Indominatable Will, Heart of Fire
by VT Creator
Summary: Born without Chakra, Naruto refuses to give up on his dream to become the strongest. Pursing a career as a ninja, even with his handicap, he will attempt to rise to the top. With the help of his sister and friends he may very well get there. AU
1. Prologue

_'Hard work always pays off!''_

 _-Might Dai_

* * *

 **-Chapter 1-**

''Huh, why aren't you wearing your headband?'' Lee asked after taking a good look at his friend Naruto and noticing that he isn't using his newly acquired leaf-headband. }

Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of cloth with a metal plate, ''you mean this?'' He showed it to Lee, ''I don't see why I should, without a team there is no point in me using it.''

''Why of course you should!'' Lee exclaimed, bringing his fists up energetically, ''you passed didn't you? We both did! We're Leaf Ninjas now, you should always be using it!''

Naruto looked at the headband in his hand and gave a half-smile, ''well you are one now, I don't thin-''

 ** _Smack!_**

Lee punched Naruto in the face, hard, making Naruto fall on his butt, the people around the streets looked at the two strangely, it is peak hour and there are a lot of people passing by.

''We both graduated! Yea you weren't put in any team, but that head-band is proof of it! I'm sure you will get your chance if you give it your best!'' Lee spoke, tightening his own forehead protector.

Naruto blinked a few times and touched his cheek, it stung a lot; he hadn't even seen it coming. When he looked at his hand he saw that the tip of his fingers are wet of his blood. _Since when does Lee punch this hard_?

''Well… Look at what we have here. '' A black haired boy with pale eyes arrived. ''Do you like the view from down there?''

Naruto got up from the ground and rubbed his nose. ''You know, now that you've said it, no. You're still ugly no matter how I look at you.''

Neji's eyebrow twitched for a few seconds before resuming his natural stoic expression. ''Hmph, like it matters what you think, loser. ''

''There you are Neji, Lee. I've been looking all around for you two. '' A brown-haired girl caught up to them, ''let's go back to class we should wait there for sensei.''

''Hn, fine Tenten. Let's go Lee.'' Neji turned around and walked back to the Academy.

''Don't worry about him, Naruto-kun.'' Lee gave his friend a thumbs-up, ''don't give up! Keep training and get stronger!''

''Don't worry about them Naruto. Those guys don't understand anything, we can show them that hard work beats natural talent!'' Lee told Naruto, patting him on the back.

Naruto grinned, ''you're right, I will work hard and show them! I will show everybody! I will train with everything I got and show them what I can do!''

''Yosh! That's the spirit!'' Rock Lee closed his right hand into a fist, his eyes burning with passion and motivation.

 _''That's going to be hard…''_ Hiruzen says to himself as he looking at the two boys from his crystal ball.

* * *

 **-Several months later-**

In his office on the Hokage Mansion, Sarutobi Hiruzen enjoyed smoking his pipe while thinking about a certain blond boy. It was such a complicated case.

Generally when there is an odd number of genin graduates. They drop out the ones on the bottom of the class to even it out… But Naruto wasn't at the bottom, he passed well above average. The reason he didn't get placed on a team had nothing to do with his grades, it was because the majority of the Jounins didn't want to have him in their teams. Kakashi wanted him, but while the boy was on the bottom of the class, he wasn't the worst graduate.

Gai also did so as well, the man tried to get him to his team, but it couldn't be allowed due to him already choosing Lee.

Opening a drawer on his desk, he pulled out a folder with ''Academy Students'' written on the front, then placed the crystal ball inside the drawer.

 ** _Knock. Knock._**

''Hokage-sama, the Jounin have arrived.'' Spoke a feminine voice from the other side of the door.

''Send them in.'' Hiruzen replied, and the door opened, revealing a line of men and women, the Jounin of the village.

''Yo.'' Kakashi, the first in line greeted the Hokage as he entered the office. Hiruzen could hardly believe his eyes, Kakashi was early. Such a thing was as disastrous as his student Tsunade winning the lottery. But if there was one quality that he had acquired with time is self-control, thus he managed to mask his surprise and simply blew out a stream of smoke.

''I see you're on time, Kakashi.'' Hiruzen said, then took the folder into his hands, 'though I don't see why, given how you're always Team 7…' He then thought.

''Yea, what's up, should we start sounding the alarms?'' Asuma asked from behind him in the line, getting a few snickers from the others.

''Hmm?'' Kakashi turned to Asuma,''you say something?''

''Hmph,'' Asuma clicked his tongue, he wouldn't allow himself to fall for that one, especially with Kurenai right behind him in the line, he had to be cool and look 'bad-ass'. Unfortunately for him, Kakashi wasn't done yet…

''Oh, it's you Asuma.'' Kakashi said, 'recognizing' the man, or at least pretending to, ''I just got the last copy from latest edition…''

Many things happened in that instant, Hiruzen's eyes widened, knowing how hard it is to get the newest copies, several of the other men on the line also shared the same expression as the Hokage, the women glared at Kakashi, for mixed reasons, some because they didn't get to buy it, others because they hated the book, Kurenai could be included on the latter.

But Asuma… Poor Asuma… His face turned as white as Orochimaru's.

'He wouldn't…' Was the thought that went through his mind, and an evil glint flashed through Kakashi's sole eye.

''…I can lend you it later, but you need to return the Limited Edition: Icha-Icha Harem Tactics book.'' Kakashi finished, a smirk hidden beneath his face-mask.

'I hate you…' Asuma thought, and Kakashi blinked, or winked at him. It couldn't be helped now, the cat was out of the bag.

It took Kurenai, and everybody around, five seconds to process what Kakashi had said, and what it meant.

1\. Kakashi owned the much desired Limited edition version.

2\. Kakashi, the Icha-Icha Library is actually willing to lend his books. Most had never dared to ask.

3\. Asuma is also a fan of the series.

After processing his words, a cold chill went down Asuma's spine, courtesy of Kurenai. But thankfully for the man, a secretly proud Hiruzen cleared his throat, bringing the attention to himself.

''Let's move on with this meeting…'' He said and extinguished his pipe, then placed it away. ''As you all know, the Academy Graduation Ceremony is nearby. You were all given a set of files with reports on the potential future Genin from the Academy. Since you're all in line for this newest generation, I'd like to know your opinions and suggestions on the teams. Kakashi, since you've arrived first, is there anything you'd like to say?''

Miracles like Kakashi appearing on time shouldn't be taken lightly, if he arrived on time, then you can be certain that there was a reason.

Kakashi placed the book in his pouch and stepped up, ''I came to ask about Uzumaki Naruto.''

''Go on…'' Hiruzen motioned for him to continue.

''I'd like to know his situation and if he will retake the exams or not. Considering how I'm usually with Team 7, consisting of the top Male student, the top Female student and the lowest on the class, I'd like to know how he will be affected and if there is any chance of him being sent to my team.'' Kakashi said and Asuma stepped forward.

''Huh? You want the boy in your team, Kakashi?'' Asuma asked and Hiruzen sighed.

''Uzumaki will retake the test like any normal student.'' The Hokage answered and Kakashi stepped back, knowing all that was needed. ''Do you have a problem with that, Asuma?''

Hiruzen's voice was as calm as ever, but everybody in the room felt the subtle 'edge' in it. Asuma, however, chose to ignore it.

''Yea, I don't understand what's up. Why is he's even using a headband? He can't be a ninja.'' Asuma said and his father got up.

 _''The Council of Elders have already reached a verdict on that matter,''_ Spoke raspy a voice coming from the shadows of the corner of the office. Making them all turn their attention towards it.

From out of the shadow stepped out an old man with an 'X' mark on his chin, a wooden cane on his right hand, while his left one is free. Besides him are two masked shinobi with animal masks, just like the ANBU, though in his case they both have 'Ne' on the forehead, Danzo, the Shinobi no Yami and his Root.

''We've discussed the matter between ourselves and came to the verdict that Uzumaki Naruto keeps the headband that he earned and _will_ go through the Exams again. That is final. If the same thing repeats itself this year, then I will assume his custody.'' Danzo spoke with authority and Asuma stepped back.

''Sheesh, alright, it doesn't affect me. I just don't see what you guys see in him. He's not even like Gai or Lee, he can't be a ninja like us.'' Asuma said, retreating to the line. Arguing and/or discussing with his father is one thing, he had a certain amount of liberty… But it's a completely different matter when it comes to Danzo.

''Thank you Danzo, now let's move on to this meeting, who's next?'' Hiruzen asked while Kakashi pulled his book again and leaned against the wall.

The rest of the meeting went well, all the Jounins sans Kakashi remained somewhat tense due to Danzo's presence, and none mentioned Naruto, Kakashi stayed quiet due to his part already being said, eventually, it came to Kurenai's turn, Team 8.

Having already placed the information of Asuma's hobby in the back of her mind, to later discuss it with the man, she steped forward and gave a short bow, ''I'd like to make a tracking and capture team, consisting of Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino, should they all pass.''

Hiruzen rubbed his chin, ''Quite a peculiar setup, care to elaborate?''

Straightening herself up, ''I believe that together they all have the perfect qualities for such a team. The Byakugan's vision coupled with their special taijutsu, along with the Inuzuka's tracking skills, the Aburame's versatility, and my own genjutsus would make an excellent team.

''I see…'' Hiruzen thought for a few seconds, ''I will consider it, next.''

''Heh,'' Asuma rubbed the back of his head as he stepped forward, ''well you already know my team, so we can skip it.''

''Mhmm…'' Hiruzen nodded and looked around to see if there was anybody else. It has been a century-long tradition for a Sarutobi to train the main members of the Ino-Shika-Cho. Not seeing any other Jonin, he sighed and glanced at Danzo, then back at the folder to see if there were any other genin left, only to find none. ''Oh, you've finally arrived…''

 **-Back with Naruto-**

''One, two, one, two…'' Naruto repeated as he struck one very, very large boulder, his legs spread apart and squatting, on the 'horse' position. The sun is setting and the training ground is now going dark.

He'd be doing it for so long that he didn't even bother to count the strikes. Every single one of them made the rock tremble as more and more cracks appeared on it. The entire front side of it has been destroyed.

''Two, one, two, one…'' He continued to strike it, his eyes closed and his mind focusing only on continuing, ''two, one, tw-''

He wavered slightly and suddenly slipped on a pool of his own blood and sweat.

''I… Must… Continue…'' He said to himself, forcing his body to get up, the bruises on his bloody fist thinning out and fading as he did so, ''I… Will… Get… Stronger!''

Thunder boomed on the clouds above and it started to rain, but he hardly noticed it. His mind focused only in his training.

Finally getting back up, he squatted and struck the stone once more, then again, and again… ''One… Two…'' He resumed his series, the rain intensifying by each and every second.

A couple feet behind him, hidden in the bushes was a paled eye girl with dark-blue hair. She was so focused on the boy that she didn't notice the darkening sky. In her mind she cheered for the blond boy, knowing that he is giving his best. It was the suddenness of the thunder that finally made her aware of her surroundings, and the start of the rain signaled her time to leave.

For as much as she enjoyed watching the boy, Hinata knows that she has to return to her

clan's compound before they send a search group for her.

''Ganbare…'' She said meekly before turning around and leaving.

Naruto never noticed her, like all the times in which she watches his training, he never noticed the girl. His mindset only on the task ahead, an unreachable goal that even he didn't know. He ignored the pain, the fatigue, the rain, the thunder and the wind, he ignored the storm, he ignored everything and went onwards.

Eventually, after a few more hours, the stone fell apart and crumbled.

''One, two, one, two…'' He continued, now punching the air. The rain stopped, the sky cleared, leaving only the moon with many stars, yet there he was. Still training.

''One, two, two, two…'' His arms stopped moving, as memories of his sister, Naruna entered his mind, taking him away from his trance and bringing him back to reality.

 ** _Ploft._**

He fell backward and gazed at the stars.

''What time… Is it?'' He said to himself weakly, all the pain and fatigue hitting him like a truck, ''I need to get back home…''

He got on his knees and struggled to get up, the cuts on his hands had healed, but the fatigue and pain remained, his arms felt like shit, his legs felt like shit, his entire body felt as if it'd been thrown into a meat-grinder. His joints made 'cracking' noises, but even then he still got up.

And like every other day of training, he dragged himself back to his apartment.

In there, he was greeted with the sight of his sister Naruna, wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, she'd fallen asleep while waiting for him to come back home…

''I don't deserve you…'' He said to himself, walking over to her and picking her up bridal-style. His clothes had dried on his body an hour before, but he was still careful as to not dirty her blanket and pajamas. All his hard work and dedication could be resumed with one word, 'Naruna', he had lots of 'other' small reasons, but in the end it is all for her.

Being careful as he carried her to their bedroom, a modest one with only one bed and drawer, he laid her down on the bed, kissed her on the cheek and tucked her in. Then glanced at the clock next to the bed and noticed that it is 2:30 AM.

Sighing he left the bedroom and went to the bathroom, took off his clothes, tossed them aside, revealing his body to be very much muscular and compacted than it seemed, having little-to-no body fat whatsoever.

It was 3:10 AM when he got out of the bath, his body wrapped up only in a towel. All the dirt, blood and sweat cleaned away. Now _almost_ ready to drop-dead into a coma, he went back into the bedroom, got into his ramen pajamas and crawled into the bed beside Naruna, who hugged him as he did so.

* * *

 **-later that day-**

''Hehe, Jiji said I'll be put on a team with some of these kids, the Uchiha's and that guy in glasses seems strong,'' Naruto looked down, he could see the famous Uchiha fan from all the way up here - several kids were proudly wearing them on their backs. Off to the side, a boy hidden behind a high collar and shades sat on his own.

They were all on the outside of the school, lined up in several rows. Standing in front of the rows were two adults, a brown-haired man with a ponytail and a horizontal scar that ran along his nose; the other is a blue-haired man, the former held a pencil and a notepad while the latter had both of his hands free.

The blue-haired one stepped forward in front of the group and formed a circle on the ground while the scarred one started speaking. The boy listening couldn't make sense of what the man said, but he assumed that it was the same thing that he had said the previous year when he had been through it.

The boy watching, leaned forward as the man with the scar gestured to two kids and they walked into the circle, both of them girls, a pink-haired one, and a brown-haired one.

''She's cute…'' He said, looking at the pink-haired one. ''Yosh! They're starting!'' He exclaimed with excitement as the two girls got into the basic academy stance.

However, the fight wasn't really much of a show. With a total duration of around twenty seconds and a very close victory to the pink-haired girl, the only thing he absorbed from it was that the two are at civilian level.

''Maybe I'm expecting too much…'' He said to himself, furrowing his eyebrows, but before he could think more about the subject, a loud 'growl' made him take his eyes off the academy and clutch his stomach. ''Urgh, well they still have a couple of months to improve, I'll just meet them during the exams… Now I need some ramen.''

Hopping off the branch and landing softly on the ground, Naruto turned towards the street and started walking.

After five minutes of walking, he came across a common, yet no less peculiar sighting: two people 'walking' on their hands. A young boy around his age along with an older and taller man, the two donning the same green spandex suit, both with the same 'bowl' haircut and both with extremely large eyebrows.

Giving a quick wave at the duo's direction, which they didn't notice, Naruto sprinted towards them and joined them, ''Hey Bushy-brows! What's with the new look?''

''Ah, Naruto kun!'' Lee acknowledged the blond's presence in his own loud way, though he didn't stop 'walking', ''I've embraced my Youth! Naruto-kun, I'd like you to meet Gai-Sensei!''

Gai, who was only a few steps ahead of Lee, stopped and looked at Naruto, ''Nice to meet you Naruto-kun! Were you from Lee's class right? Lee's always mentioning your youth, I've heard a lot about you!'' He said in his usual excited tone and then extended his right hand for a handshake, maintaining balance with only his left one.

''I'm sure you did…'' Naruto replied somewhat awkwardly, scratching the back of his head with his left hand and extending his right one for the handshake.

''I see that you're filled with youth! We still have two-hundred more laps to do. Would you like to join us?'' Gai then asked and Naruto shook his head.

''Ugh…'' His stomach growled, ''Maybe another day? I'm heading off to Ichiraku now.''

''Heh.'' Gai chuckled, ''Alright! Another day then! C'mon Lee, let our youth shine!''

''Yes Gai-sensei!'' Lee exclaimed and the two dashed off into the horizon.

Naruto glanced around after the two had left and seen that the people around were looking at him strangely. He chuckled awkwardly and the people stopped staring. They seemed to have been startled by the dynamic duo and were only looking in Naruto's direction due to them.

Seeing that the people stopped staring, he resumed his walk towards Ichiraku which was at the end of the street. Quickly reaching the place that he considered to be 'Shangri-la', before he walked in, Naruto idly noticed that the place was empty, most probably due to the time.

''Heyo Teuchi, Ayame onee-chan!'' He greeted the two cheerfully as he entered, choosing a seat in the far right-hand corner.

The father-daughter duo stood on the other side of the balcony, Ayame working the cash register.

''Naruto my boy, welcome. Will you be having the usual?'' Teuchi asked, tightening his apron.

''Yea, hit me up with some Miso!'' Naruto exclaimed and Ayame giggled. Teuchi nodded and went to the back to prepare the boy's ramen.

Once Teuchi had left, Ayame leaned forward on the balcony and tapped her chin as if thinking. ''Hey Naruto… I heard that the graduation is coming soon, is that right?''

''Sure is!'' His grin widened, ''It's in three months! Last year they said that I made the numbers odd and that there wasn't anybody left for me to team up with, but I'm sure I'll be joining one this year!''

Ayame stared at Naruto for a few seconds. They've both known each other for a long time, long enough for her to know his 'signs' and see through his deception. She could see that deep down, even he didn't believe that it was what happened, but she couldn't call him out on it, so instead she just smiled, ''I'm sure you will, you've been training hard, right?''

''Yup, been training every day! I'm getting stronger! By the time of their graduation, I'll be so strong that they will have to put me on a team, dattebayo!'' He replied with enthusiasm.

'I really hope they do…' She thought, and her father came back with a steaming hot bowl of Miso Ramen. Record speed even by his standards, but Naruto didn't mind.

Having heard the conversation, Teuchi glanced at Ayame before placing the bowl in front of Naruto.

Now with the bowl in front of him, and with no desire to wait, he grabbed the chopsticks, separated them and practically started to 'inhale' the ramen, until…

 ** _Whack!_**

With very impressive speed and accuracy, Ayame pulled a large wooden spoon from underneath the balcony and whacked him on the back of his head.

''Itai~!'' He nursed the newly formed lump, crying comical tears.

''We've been through this before, Naruto. C'mon, I know you can eat like a normal person.'' She said and crossed her arms underneath her modest breasts, spoon still firmly on her hand.

''Yes Ayame onee-chan…'' He said slowly, bowing his head and picking up the chopsticks again, ''I'm sorry Ayame onee-chan…''

''It's alright, you can continue now.'' She said with a gentle voice. Truthfully, she didn't really like hitting him, she wasn't even angry to begin with, but sometimes the only language that he understood was violence.

And so Naruto resumed his 'assault on the Ramen, albeit at a much slower, yet still steady rate. He continued for around half-an-hour, eating several bowls and exchanging small talk with the two. By the time he left the Ramen shop, the sun was at its peak, and with renewed motivation after seeing his friend Lee, he decided that he should double his training…

But not before doing a quick stop in his home.

His apartment wasn't very far from the ramen shop, being only a couple of blocks away, in one of the more modest parts of the village. Hardly one of the worst, and surely not one of the best, he certainly couldn't complain about it.

Quickly going up the stairs, a large plastic bag in his right hand, he quickly reached his apartment's door. He ground his boots against the mat then slowly opened the door.

The inside of his apartment was quite nice, on the living room there was a three-person sofa, a small table in front of it with a radio on top. On its walls were several very intricate and detailed drawings of the village, animals and people, himself, the Hokage, among others.

On the corner of the living room is a chair, with one of those artist stands for painting in front of it. Seated on that chair, with a pencil on her hand, is a young red-headed girl, her hair is messy and she's using a pink pajama with several strawberries etched to it.

''I see you've been busy, Nana.'' Naruto said softly, seeing the drawing that she was finishing, a portrait of him laughing with his eyes closed. The amount of detail it had was amazing. It could pass off as a black and white picture of him.

Naruna, or 'Nana' as he liked to call her, didn't seem to hear him or acknowledge his presence, and instead continued her work, adding the tiny, hardly visible, scratches on his head-band.

Walking over to the table, he opened the bag and took out several ramen cups. ''You eaten anything today?'' He asked and as, usual received no reply, then walked over to the fridge, to see the sandwiches that he had made for her had vanished, ''So you did, that's good… I guess it would be too much to ask for you do your hair…''

He never really expected an answer from her, since she was young she never was one to talk, or interact with anybody. So after closing the fridge, he quickly went over to the bathroom, took a hair-comb, then returned to the living room.

Stopping in front changed his pacing into a much slower and calmer one as he approached her, then knelt besides her.

''This one's incredible, Nana! 'I think I'm gonna put it on our room.'' He told to her, being careful to not raise his voice too much. She only blinked and continued with the drawing.

''Hey… I'm going to comb your hair now, okay?''He then said and for a few seconds it seemed as if she didn't notice his presence, but soon enough she placed the pencil down and rested her tiny hands on her lap. He smiled and gently took the bottom of her hair, then slowly started to pass the comb through it.

''I will be going out to train soon, there is some ramen that I brought from Ichiraku, you should eat it while it's still hot.'' He told her, then paused to undo some knots on her hair, ''Koharu, your tutor should be here in an hour. I think it's kind of nice of her to volunteer, so give it your best, okay?''

Surprisingly, she nodded, an extremely subtle movement, but one that he instantly recognized.

Finishing up with her hair, leaving it completely straight and 'neat', he ran his fingers through her scalp a few more times and then pecked her on the cheek. Combing her hair has been one of his favorite activities for around as far as he could remember. The answer would be instantaneous if somebody were to ask who has the most beautiful hair on the village.

''I won't take long, okay. Don't forget to eat the ramen.'' He said then went to return the comb to the bathroom, which due to the apartment's size, only took around five seconds. After that, he stared at her for a few seconds then finally left.

'She'll be okay,' he thought as he made his way to the training ground, which was only a ten minute run from his apartment. To him, his sister Naruna meant the world to him and more. Without her, he would be alone.

She rarely got out of the apartment, few knew about her existence, which for him was good because he wouldn't have to worry as much about people with bad intentions. Due to her mental condition, being an autist, she possesses little-to-no awareness of the intention of those around her.

Arriving at the training ground, a somewhat large area filled with very dense trees and heavy boulders. He started his warm ups for another hard day of training.


	2. Naruto's big day

**Sup guys, another chapter up.**

 **I can't stress enough how there isn't any pairings at the moment. It isn't anything for now, so take all character interactions as just kids and pre-teens talking with one another.**

 **This isn't a Naru-hina story. Just because they can be friendly with one-another, doesn't mean they will be a pair. I'm just making them interact.**

 **This Naruto isn't the type to get angry for little, he's actually very tolerant. Compared to the Canon one, this one has more tact and control because he thinks more about others, mainly his sister, to make her be more comfortable. He used to think that if he has power then people will respect him, it took a while for Canon Naruto to think about what others felt.**

* * *

Normal speech: ''I'm going to be Hokage!''

Demon/Summon or Fusion speech: **''Hello Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner...''**

Human Thinking: 'Something's not right with that guy...'

Demon/Summon thinking: **'What the heck is that meat-sack doing…'**

Human sudden appearance: _''I'm coming for you, nigga.''_

Demon/Summon sudden appearance: **_''I've arrived, and so has your END.''_**

Word being stressed out in phrase, '' I want it now!''

 _Bang -_ Alone in the line with no quote marks, or sometimes appearing in line as only thing on italics- Onomatopoeia - sound ''Hello _munch_ my name's _munch crunch_ Akimichi Choji!''

* * *

 ** _DISCLAIMER! THE FOLLOWING STORY IS PURELY FICTIONAL AND VT CREATOR DOESN'T OWN NOR PROFIT IN ANY WAY WITH IT'S CONTENTS. THE CHARACTERS AND UNIVERSER ARE ALL PROPRIERITY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO._**

* * *

''Yosh! Its show time!'' Exclaimed an excited Naruto as he stopped at the Academy's Entrance. It is still early in the morning and the students are just arriving

The kids around him all looked at him weirdly and then started to whisper things among themselves.

''Hey, do you know who this kid is?'' Inuzuka Kiba asked his 'round' friend Akimichi Choji, both having also just arrived.

''No clue, Kiba.'' Choji replied, pulling out a bag of chips.

''I'll go check him out.'' Kiba said and started walking towards Naruto. ''Hey, you lost or something?''

''Hmm?'' Naruto turned to the Inuzuka boy, whom is a few inches shorter than himself, and blinked, ''you say something?''

Kiba's eyebrow twitched, but chalked it up to the blond boy just not paying attention and really not listening to him, ''yea, I asked if you're lost.''

''This is the Ninja Academy, right?'' Naruto asked and Kiba nodded, ''where people become genin?'' Kiba nodded once more, ''where there is a teacher that talks endlessly and has a big head?'' He continued and Kiba nodded again, snickering slightly to himself. ''Then I'm at the right place dattebayo!''

''You do know that today we're having the Final Exams, right? You're a bit early to enroll for next year. I think they will start accepting people in like two weeks'' Kiba said, and Naruto laughed, and then patted him on the back.

''Heh, next year, you're funny. What's your name? I'm Uzumaki Naruto!'' Naruto said with a big grin.

Kiba looked over his shoulder at the spot that he had been patted, and thought about how the kid just has no regards for 'personal space', then shrugged it off and grinned because he also doesn't, such things help to know who he can 'play' with or not, the people that can take jokes or not. ''I'm Inuzuka Kiba, top dog here in the Academy!''

Some of the kids listening snickered and said stuff like, 'yea right,' 'that would be Sauske-Kun'

''Well Kiba, I'm not here to enroll for next year, I'm here for the Graduations Exams that are happening now.'' Naruto said, ignoring the others around.

''Eh?!'' Was Kiba's intelligent of response, along with the others listening, which includes Choji, Ino, Sakura, Shikamaru and Shino, though the former two are being more discreet about it.

''You came here for the exams?! That's unfair, we never saw you in class!'' Sakura entered the conversation in her usual very loud voice, joining the the two along with Choji, Ino and Shikamaru. Shino just continued to listen to the conversation from a distance.

''Yea, I also never heard of you. Not even from other classes.'' Ino complained, also in a loud tone, though not as loud as her pink-haired friend/Rival.

Naruto rubbed his ear with his pinky and turned to the two, '' sheesh, no need to yell, don't think anybody here is deaf, or wants to be…'' He said and the two blushed, ''I actually already went through here, graduated last year, but they're making me go through the exams again.''

''Oh man, that must sucks. I can' wait to get out of here! Would hate to come back.'' Kiba said and the others nodded.

''Yea, I guess it does…'' Naruto sighed, then started walking towards the door, ''I hope you all pass, maybe we can end up in the same team!''

Entering the first room, Naruto saw a couple of students inside chatting among themselves and waiting for the teachers.

A wave of nostalgia struck him upon seeing the classroom. School year's weren't all bad, he actually managed to make a couple of friends, Lee being his best friend through it all. They sort of understood each other well.

Looking among the many vacant seats, he quickly decided on one on the back, to the far left corner. He then took out a pen from his pocket and laid his head on the table.

Minutes passed by rather quickly, soon the room had been filled with students. They murmured senseless things among themselves that Naruto didn't bother to listen to, some about him, some about another student named 'Sauske', or just general chatting about how the test will be and whether or not they studied a lot.

''Attention students,'' spoke the man with a scar on his nose, Umino Iruka, and everybody stopped chatting to pay attention to him, Naruto included, getting out of his 'nap' to stare at the man with 'half-open' eyes, ''today is a big day, I know how hard you've all worked to get here, but now is the time to see if it will be enough, if you got what it takes to be soldiers of our village, good luck.''

As soon as he stopped talking, four adults started going around the room handing out papers.

After getting his own, Naruto gave a quick glance at its content, wrote his name on the top, and then drew a chibi-version of him giving a peace-sign.

He had studied hard for the test, during the last few months, he had not only trained his strength, endurance and speed, but he also trained on the academy subjects, having already seen it all the previous year, all he had to do was re-read to make sure that he hadn't forgotten anything.

Sure enough, he didn't.

He recognized only two questions mirroring the ones from his previous attempt white the others are still of the same subject but phrased differently. It took him a total of fifteen minutes to finish it, after which he turned the papers around and went back to sleep.

One of the chunin instructors, the first to notice Naruto go to sleep, a black haired man, nudged another chunin, a bald man, to his side and discretely pointed at Naruto with his thumb, ''hey, look at that boy,''

''Eh? What the… Does he think this is a game?'' The Bald one whispered, his eyebrow twitching a bit.

''I think so… Look at that one also.'' He whispered back and then gestured at Shikamaru, whom decided to follow his example and take a nap himself.

''Yea but he's a Nara, you know how these guys are-'' The bald chunin quickly closed his mouth as Iruka glanced over at their direction. After all, talking when they're supposed to be looking out for cheaters is much worse than simply sleeping during the test. Not another word came out from the two from thereafter. Though they kept glancing at Naruto's direction, they kept their mouth shut.

When the time was up and the students delivered their tests, they glanced at Naruto's test to sort of check how many he had skipped, only to find out that he had indeed answered them all, and from what they could absorb during the short interval that they saw his test, he'd went well.

''Ey, Naruto is it?'' Kiba asked after handing out his test, giving a quick sprint to catch up to Naruto, whom was one of the firsts to deliver.

''Hmm?'' The blond boy turned to the shorter brown-haired one. ''Oh, it's you.''

''Yea it's me-'' Kiba groaned and Iruka interrupted the two.

''The first part may be over, but now still isn't the time for chatting, Naruto.'' Iruka said to the boy, making several of the others around snicker, ''follow me, it's time for the second test.''

Kiba sighed, seeing that he wouldn't get to ask his question now, then saw that all the students were forming a line and went to the back of it.

Iruka along with the other instructors then guided the boys to three long houses nearby and made them wait outside, then started calling them out alphabetically to go inside for the test. One by one the students entered the houses for their tests, it took a while for Naruto's turn thanks to his surname he was among the last ones, but eventually he also entered the house.

''For this exam, you have to make it to the other side within a minute. There are traps spread around that will make your time be deducted, good luck. There are five targets that if you manage to strike, will increase the time you have.'' Said the chunin as Naruto entered.

Nodding to the woman, Naruto took a few steps forward then stopped and glanced at his feet.

''Huh, my boots are untied...'' He said to himself and then bent down to tie them together. Just as he bent down, three wooden shuriken passed over his head.

Quickly getting back up, he found his feet limited due to actually tying them together, the two laces together. He took two half-steps in between trip wires, lost his balance and nearly fell backwards; stopping at a nearly ninety-degree angle, then forced him to the front to try and regain his footing and ended up nearly falling to the front, nearly, because he also once again stopped at a ninety-degree angle.

Two wooden kunais passed by him as he bent backwards and four more when he bent frontwards.

''Argh, you stupid things!'' He yelled, removing his boots and then throwing them ahead of himself. One of the boots got caught up in a net that was travelling towards him, while the other broke through one of the targets, ricocheted at the wall and broke two more of the five targets.

''This place sure is a lot darker than before… But I thought there was supposed to be traps here...'' Naruto said as he walked straight ahead, his pupils slowly dilating to adapt to the darkness. ''This is much easier tha- ah... Ah... ATCHOO!''

He sneezed loudly, bending forward as a log trap passed by overhead, then started walking again just as the log came back.

''I think I'm almost there...'' He then said, narrowing his eyes and looking around. As he did so, he found the two targets that and quickly threw two kunais at them.

Thankfully, he'd just about reached the finish line, the instructor from the start of this test and the bald one. Both looking at him with dumbfounded looks, mouths wide open.

''How'd I go?'' Naruto asked and the two looked in between themselves, ''you guys are slacking, I couldn't find one trap! But I sort of lost my boots along the way... Would appreciate it if could get them, I can't see well in the dark.'' He laughed sheepishly then left.

''That didn't happen, did it?'' The bald guys asked the woman, whom could only nod slowly

Outside, Naruto rejoined with the group of kids that had also finished and were waiting for the Exams to continue.

''This one was hard,'' Kiba told Choji, and then saw Naruto when he joined the bunch. ''Dude, what happened to your boots?''

''Can't you see, Kiba.'' Ino got into the conversation, ''he got a conscious and ditched those horrible things.''

Naruto's eyebrow twitched, as far as appearance went, they were normal. Having the front and bottom with metal in between the layers of leather and some strange substance, he finds it great to step, kick and stomp on things.

Before Naruto could say anything, a chunin appeared in front of the group.

''The final part of the physical exam is over here, come.'' He said with a rough voice and then walked away towards the 'playground' of the Academy.

Everyone followed immediately, except Naruto, whom had seen the bald chunin instructor get out of the house with his boots.

''Thanks oji-san, Naruto said, going over to the man and taking the boots, then removed the dust from it and sort of 'shined' it a little, ''all good now, as bright and shiny as your forehead, thanks!''

He then took off towards the group, leaving one angry baldy behind.

Now with the rest, he found the students all waiting in a group as the three chunins waited inside the circles made on the grass. Knowing that his turn would take a while for whatever it was that they had planned because of his name, he crouched to put his boots back on once more.

''Hey, you!'' One of the chunin instructors shouted, the one in the middle ring, pointing towards him. The students all opened a path to him, none wanting to be one that the man is pointing at.

''Huh, me?'' He asked after he finished tying the laces, then turning his head to the source of the voice, completely clueless.

''Yes, Uzumaki Naruto, come here!'' The chunin said, pointing to ring.

''…'' Naruto walked and the soon-to-be genin all leaned forward to watch, wanting to see how good, or bad he is.

''Alright,'' the man said once he entered the ring, and attacked at a relatively low speed, as it is meant for possible graduates to be able to dodge.

Since Naruto hadn't been there when they explained the rules, he missed them saying that they'd give an opportunity for one person to step up, show courage and 'start' the test, before they start calling each one by name. Rules being that the fight starts the second the student steps into the ring, win by either landing five hits or taking the opponent out of the ring.

Sidestepping the punch, Naruto bend down behind the chunin and seemed to pick something from the ground. During the movement in which he bent down, he tripped and pushed the chunin, whom already had some momentum from the punch and certainly wasn't expecting the boy to do that.

Getting back up and removing the dust from the object, he revealed it to be a 5 ryo coin.

When he looked around, all the kids were staring at him with their mouths wide open. He grinned, and then looked around for the chunin, to find him on the ground, outside of the ring.

''Oy sensei, I found it already.'' He said, showing the coin then flipping it towards him, ''you're down there looking for this right? try not to lose it again… What was the exam again? I didn't get you guys the first time.''

''…'' The chunin and everybody else stared at him blankly.

'Is this guy for real?' Kiba thought, resisting the urge to laugh. If he laughed at the instructor, he could be sure that he'd get screwed over it, well at least if he were to laugh alone, but the others were to stunned to even do that, and he also didn't want to be the one to start the laughter.

'Naruto-kun…' Hinata thought, having learned his name earlier when Kiba called him out. 'It's like he's a different person…'

When she compared the one that she watched train, and the one in front of her now, it didn't match.

''Uh… Win: Uzumaki Naruto!'' Iruka announced, breaking the awkward silence.

''Oh…'' Naruto said, giving a look of understanding, ''I guess it's too late for me to get that coin back…''

''Next, Aburame Shino, Aburame Nexori, Akimichi Choji, step forward and enter the ring.'' Iruka ignored Naruto and continued.

Naruto silently thanked him and left with a sheepish smile. He didn't really know what to do at that point, so he just waited on the side.

Now it could have been because of Naruto's easy win, but the students that went after him found themselves having an extremely hard time against the instructors, especially the one that had lost to Naruto. It seemed that they decided that they were going too easy on them.

''I hate you…'' Ino, the last to go groaned and glared at Naruto as she joined the part that he's in along with the other kids that passed. Having the bad luck to end up with the guy that Naruto went against, she barely passed by five to four.

''Neat.'' Naruto replied, looking at her with a bored expression and then turned his attention to Iruka, whom seemed that is about to announce something.

''You've all done well, this was the last of the physical portion of the exam, there will be a half an hour break for us to discuss the results before going on to the final part, the Ninjutsu portion of the exam. Leaving the school's premises without permission will be taken into consideration as forfeiture.'' Iruka said and then left with all the other chunins. (1)

''Troublesome,'' Shikamaru said, walking away towards a tree.

Naruto also took the opportunity to find a shade to rest under. He had a good night of rest in the previous day and doesn't necessarily feel sleepy, or tired, but at least time would pass by if he took a nap.

Finding a nice spot on the base of one of the trees, he barely closed his eyes before hearing footsteps coming towards him, a raven haired boy, using a dark-blue shirt. Naruto recognized him as one of the the Uchihas that he had seen among the kids a few months back.

''I can see you.'' Sauske said, stopping in front of him.

Naruto looked at his hands and feet, then looked at the boy, ''yea, I can too.''

''Tsk,'' Sauske clicked his teeth, eyebrow twitching, ''the others may not be able to, but I can. That coin wasn't there before, when you dodged the sensei's punch, I saw you take it from under your sleeve. Clever, you made it all seem like a joke, a stroke of luck, but I got an eye one you…'' Sauske then turned around and left.

''Hmm…'' Naruto stared at the boy's back as he left, ''not bad.''

''So you've met the Sauske.'' Kiba said, walking up to him along with Choji.

''Sauske?'' Naruto repeated, turning his attention to Kiba and Choji, ''so that's his name, I was just about to settle with duck-butt.''

''Pfft, duck-butt… Why hadn't I thought about that earlier?'' Kiba snorted, then shook his head, ''you didn't know his name? Your name is like right after his in the order.''

''It is, isn't it? I Didn't pay attention.'' Naruto replied then yawned.

''He's a jerk, but he's one of the best on the class, behind me of course.'' Kiba then said and Choji choked on a chip. ''Huh, what was that Choji?''

''No- _munch-_ thing,'' Choji said, wanting to avoid any type of conflict at graduation day, he wanted to go hang out with Shikamaru, but his friend seemed so peaceful, 'on second thought… I can probably fit in on that spot on the other side of the tree…' he then thought and left towards Shikamaru.

''Wait Cho- huh, what's that? '' Kiba reached out to the chubby boy and then stopped half-way as he noticed the start of a fight somewhere.

An argument had started in the direction that Sauske had gone off to. Two of his fangirls had gotten into an argument about being sent into his team, which evolved into something else entirely where they started just saying the bad things about one another.

''Are they always like that?'' Naruto asked, Kiba as more and more girls joined the 'quarrel'.

''They're always fighting over him but… Today they are going all out… Man I have to go there and see it up close, see you later!'' Kiba then said, running off to get a better view of the fight, Akamaru barking inside his jacket.

 **-25 minutes later-**

The girls proved themselves to have extremely powerful lungs and throats, their 'fight' took nearly all of the brake, and nobody came to spread them apart. They had just went on and on with a completely senseless argument. By the end of it, none even remembered what started it.

When the chunins returned to take them back to class for the final part of the exam, they found a bunch of girls all worn out from their bickering.

The time had finally came, a step away from their goal. Many students were panicking due to the fact that it would be now or next year. Even Naruto had gotten a little nervous as the students were called in one by one.

Thankfully the tests were fast and it didn't take long for him to be called.

''Well Naruto…'' Iruka looked at him, then at the stack of papers on his table, ''here we are again.''

''Hopefully for the last time,'' Naruto replied quickly and then crossed his arms. ''Soo… Now what?''

''Well before we continue, there is something I want to know…'' Iruka sighed and looked at Naruto in the eyes, ''are you sure you want to be a ninja?''

''Of course I am, Iruka-sensei, what type of question is that?'' Naruto answered in a heartbeat, ''I'm one-hundred percent positive, I'm going to become the strongest!''

Iruka continued staring at him for a few seconds before he broke eye contact to take the papers into his hand, ''giving your condition, the complete absence of Chakra in your body, there is no other option but to fail you on the Ninjutsu portion…''

Naruto nodded, it wasn't big news for him. Unlike his friend Lee that can't use jutsu due to having a damaged chakra network, he was born without one, an anomaly, a 'freak'. Nobody could explain what happened, such a thing shouldn't even be possible, but there he is, living and breathing.

''… I really wished you stopped goofing around and took this seriously, but you've improved and like last year, you've managed to score enough on both tests to pass. Congratulations Naruto, you can put back your head-band, come back tomorrow at eleven to be assigned to your team.'' Iruka finished and Naruto pumped his fist upwards.

''Yatta! I knew it!'' He cheered, taking out his leaf head-band from his pocket and tying it back to his forehead where it belonged, ''thanks sensei! You'll see, I will become the best!''

''I'm sure you will…'' Iruka said and Mizuki nodded, the blue-haired chunin internally cursing the fact that the boy had passed, again…

Running out of the room with a large grin on his face, Naruto made his way to Ichiraku., having promised the father and daughter duo that they would be the firsts to get the news.

He practically flew through the streets, appearing only as a blur to the civilian eye.

''Teuchi, Ayame onee-chan! I passed, I passed!'' He said, barging into the ramen shop, startling the two along with the customers. Despite how fast he ran, he hadn't broke a sweat.

''Naruto, what did I say abo-'' Ayame started, then realized what the boy had said, ''you passed? You passed! Father, come here, he passed the Academy test, congratulations Naruto!''

She then hugged him from above the counter, which was when Teuchi had arrived from the kitchen.

''This is great, I never doubted you for a second. To celebrate, today the first three bowls are on the house.'' He said with a grin.

''Thanks jii-san, but I won't be able to stay for long, have to go check on Nana.'' Naruto said as the hug ended, ''I just came by to tell the news.''

The Ichiraku's both knew about his 'younger', twin sister Naruna when they visited the boy in his house. While nobody actually knew who was the older between the two, they settled with recognizing him as the older one due to the difference in size and his general role.

Teuchi rubbed his chin for a second in thought, ''Then just stay for a few minutes, today's a special day, I will make some for het too'' Teuchi said and Ayame nodded.

''Well, it's kind of hard to refuse free ramen…'' Naruto said to himself and his stomach growled, making him blush.

''See, at least your stomach is honest, I'll be right back.'' Teuch then left to go back to the kitchen.

 **-Fifteen minutes later-**

Naruto really didn't stay for long in Ichiraku, for as much as he loved ramen and the two, he had to go back home.

'I left her breakfast, hope she ate…' He thought as he neared the apartment, a plastic bag with Ichiraku's ramen on his right hand. It wasn't uncommon for the girl to 'forget' to eat, she would lose notion to the outside world whenever she found something interesting to observe, read, or got enthralled in a drawing.

Arriving just outside the apartment, Naruto saw an old lady leaving, Utatane Koharu, Naruna's tutor. It was hard to find a tutor for the girl, she couldn't go to a normal civilian school due to the kids being mean to her and the teachers not having the patience, even the private tutors didn't have patience.

''Ah, hello Koharu obaa-chan, I didn't know it was your day to come, I was so worried about her being left alone.'' He said, walking up to the old lady

''It isn't, I came to visit because I knew you would be busy.'' The old lady replied and he smiled.

''Gee, thanks a lot!'' He gave a short, sloppy bow, not being used to formalities, ''you've been a lot of help.''

''It's alright, she's a pleasant company.'' Koharu said truthfully, 'Nana' is a simple girl, she would just stay quiet in her own little spot, drawing or reading any book given, ''I already made her lunch and she already bathed, though I can't make her stop using Pajamas.''

''Yea… Sure sounds like her.'' He rubbed his head sheepishly. He also couldn't get her to wear normal clothes, Pajamas were simply more comfortable for her, which was pretty much all she cared about.

''Pardon my intrusion but… Have you thought about how you will take care of her from now on? As an active genin you would have to go out on week-long missions.'' Koharu then said, and Naruto's eyes widened slightly, though before he could say anything, a shadow passed overhead and entered the apartment, his apartment through the window.

''Hold that thought!'' He said, running past Koharu and inside the apartment. He made it there fast, but when he got in, he found a masked man wearing full black, two fuma-shuriken on his back, holding a squirming Naruna on his shoulders, ''why you… Put her down!''

The masked man quickly reached into his pouch and pulled two balls, Naruto recognized them immediately as smoke-bombs and rushed towards him, but it was already too late, the man jumped back and tossed them at the ground.

''Fuck! Nana!'' Naruto yelled, looking around the smoke, ''the window!'' He then quickly found the window and without thinking twice, he also jumped out, completely uncaring that it is on the third floor.

Mid-way during his fall, he spotted the assailant jumping between rooftops, so correcting his body and landing on a roof on the other side of the street, he started pursuing the ninja.

The ninja actually found himself having a hard time keeping a distance from the boy, for Naruto kept pushing more and more strength through his legs with each passing second, till the point that the ground beneath him would crack and break with each jump.

He threw shurikens and kunais at Naruto on any opportunity that he had, but the blond boy simply ignored them and continued, gaining more and more ground on the man, until they reached a forested area, where he gained the advantage again.

''Shit,'' Naruto cursed under his breath and pulled out some of the kunais lodged into his skin and tossed them away and then ran off in the direction that the masked man had went to.

Thanks to Naruna's groans, grunts and struggling that broke several branches along the way as well as leaving strands of her hair, Naruto managed to locate them and keep track of the two until the man finally came to a stop in a small clearing with a wooden house. The masked man took Naruna from his shoulder and placed her on the ground, his left arm around her neck and a kunai on his right hand, ''you weren't supposed to be able to follow me, but I can work with this.'' He spoke, his voice being very familiar to Naruto.

Nana seemed very uncomfortable with the situation, wiggling around his grasp and trying to get out, she generally hated it when others besides Naruto touched her.

''Leave her alone!'' Naruto growled and the man chuckled, and then used his free hand to remove the mask, revealing himself as Mizuki, Naruto's teacher in the academy.

''No can do, things wasn't supposed to go like this, but you just had to follow me here, didn't you? I was going to contact you so that you could do me a little favor.'' Mizuki said and then smirked.

''Do something for you? Let her go and then we can talk about it.'' Naruto replied, the wounds on his body from the kunais and shurikens fading away.

''I make the rules here boy, you're going to steal the Scroll of Seals that the Hokage keeps on his mansion and bring it back to me here, or else she's going to be in for a hard time.'' Mizuki licked his lips.

Naruto looked at him, then at his sister and thought about it, he didn't want to steal something from the Hokage, whom had been very helpful to both him and his sister, but more importantly, he couldn't leave her alone with the man.

Seeing no other option, he prepared to nod, but the moment he was about to do so, Naruna managed to loosen Mizuki's hold on her neck and bit him on his hand, hard. Mizuki flinched and released the girl, whom started to run towards her brother's direction.

However once she was two feet away from Mizuki, Naruto's image blurred out of existence to appear in between the two, in front of the blue haired man and round-house kicked him the gut.

Naruto appeared so fast in front of him that he didn't even have time to raise his arms to defend himself. The kick struck him with the strength of a speeding car, breaking several of his ribs and sending him flying backwards towards one large, thick tree, cracking it's surface and shaking it up.

Naruna had been startled with his sudden disappearance of her line-of-sight; she then heard the sound of mizuki crashing against the tree, took a few seconds to process and slowly turned around to see. When she turned around she came face-to-face with her brother, whom had bent down to her eye-level.

''Um hey… Look Nana, I need you to trust me. I need you to trust your brother. Close your eyes and don't open them until I say so, I will keep you safe.'' Naruto said to her softly, taking both of her hands into his.

She stared at him for a few seconds before finally closing her eyes and covering them with her hands.

''We got to get out of here…'' Naruto then said, mostly to himself, gently picking her up bridal style and jumping to a tree branch. On it, he glanced back to where he had kicked Mizuki and saw that the man is recovering himself and getting up, and then looked back at the path of broken branches that he made while chasing his teacher to go back to find his way back and went that way

Mizuki's mind had gone blank for a few seconds, he really wasn't expecting such speed from a genin, and much less the one that shouldn't even be a ninja, in his opinion. His time as an academy teacher had made him weak, not being required to go on missions, not having to train, but still he is a chunin and slowly regained his footing.

As his senses came back, he saw Naruto leaving and anger flooded his body, a genin wouldn't get the best of him! With the adrenalin keeping the pain at bay, he hastily got up and started chasing the two siblings.

While Naruto had the head-start, the 'motivational boost' from her imminent danger was fading away and Mizuki knew how to run through the forest better.

''Come here you brat!'' Mizuki yelled, taking out one of the two over-sized shurikens from his back, ''you're only delaying the inevitable!''

Naruto glanced back at the approaching teacher and forced himself to go faster, pushing more strength through his legs and feet, though as he did so, he ended up stepping on a branch that had already been damaged previously and couldn't withstand their combined weight and his pressure, breaking underneath his feet.

Mizuki took advantage of his fall to throw the shuriken at the boy, whom had no chance at dodging.

Seeing the thing nearing himself and his sister, he spun around and covered Naruna with his own body, allowing it to pierce him in the back. Lodging itself on the right part of his back and going through his right lung.

 _Ploft._

Naruto grunted as he fell to the ground, once again using his body to take the blunt of it, further driving the shuriken inside. Nana maintained her eyes closed with her hands covering them.

''That was for the kick, you little bitch.'' Mizuki said, landing a few feet from the two, ''I told you that you were only delaying the inevitable.''

While Mizuki talked, Naruto shakily got up along with his sister and stood between her and Mizuki, then tried pulling the shuriken out of his back only to fail due to how far it had penetrated, the tip of it can be seen on the front of his chest through a tear on his shirt.

''You're not getting out of here alive, you abomination,'' Mizuki then said as Naruto staggered, ''I was going to make you take the scroll for me, but now that it came to this, I will have to kill you two and get rid of your bodies.''

''You're not getting near her again...'' Naruto coughed up some blood, his legs wobbled a bit but he remained standing. Mizuki had to admit, the boy is indeed much stronger than he initially thought, by now any other normal human genin of his age would be either dead, squirming in pain or unconscious.

''I'm doing the world a favor by getting rid of you, a chakra-less abomination like you shouldn't exist'' Mizuki said, taking out the other shuriken from his back, ''after I kill you, I'm going to have some fun with her before killing her also.''

He then tossed the shuriken at Naruto, whom did no effort to move for it would go towards Naruna if he did, whom still has her eye closed shut, her cute kitten pajamas ruined with Naruto's blood and dirt.

The shuriken penetrated the lower side of his abdomen horizontally, Naruto gritted his teeth and grabbed it's center.

''You're... Not... Getting...'' Naruto panted between breaths, his eyes turning white, ''near... Her... AGAIN! _''_

The blond boy pulled the shuriken from his stomach with his left hand and threw it back at Mizuki.

Reacting quick, Mizuki managed to jump out of the way from the shuriken, but he lost track and sight of Naruto upon doing so. He reached into his pouch to pull out a kunai, but before he could, Naruto blurred in front of him and punched him in the gut with his left hand, sending him flying backwards through two thin trees, his body stopping on the surface of a larger one.

Naruto then blurred in front of him once more, head-butted the chunin in the chest, making him cough up blood and then followed it up a punch to the ribs that caved in the right side of Mizuki's thorax.

 _''Stop Naruto,''_ spoke a voice from behind the boy as he readied another punch at his broken and bloodied teacher.

The Hokage, along with Iruka and several ANBU have arrived, thanks to Koharu that had went to notify Hiruzen.

He stopped and lowered his fists, his rage-filled eyes returning to normal as he regained his senses.

''He was going to hurt Nana...'' Naruto said and then coughed up a glob of blood, Mizuki falling down to the ground unconscious. Iruka went to help the boy, but Naruto slapped his hand away, ''I don't need your help.''

His vision became blurry and he staggered backwards, then gritted his teeth, and reached to the shuriken in his back.

''N-Naruto, you shouldn't pull that out let the medics do their j-'' Iruka started, but Naruto yanked it from his back then dropped it to the ground.

''I'm going home.'' Naruto told Iruka and the Hokage, then walked passed them, going towards Naruna, whom has two ANBU besides her.

The ANBU around blocked his way and Iruka tried to reach out to stop him, but Hiruzen placed his left hand on the man's shoulder and motioned for them to let him pass with his right, ''let him go, he will be fine.''

Surely enough, much to Iruka's astonishment, the wound on Naruto's back started closing itself, the one on his stomach healing first.

''Amazing…'' Iruka said in awe at Naruto's healing. ''But when, how can he do it with no chakra?

''He's always had that ability, his whole body is an anomaly, we have no idea on how it works or how it function… He had a long day, I will question him about what happened later'' Hiruzen answered, watching as Naruto took Naruna into his arms and left, ''ANBU, take Mizuki to the hospital, two should always remain inside the room with him.''

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(1)– In canon they never did show the other exams, at least not during the first part they just showed the ninjutsu one where Naruto failed. In that one, after he failed the ninjutsu one, they knew immediately that he didn't have the scores on others to pass. In mine they are having a break in between exams to rate the students based on the other two portions, so that if something like this happens, it is at least reasonable…

''Oh, you failed to make a clone? Sorry, but you have to repeat the year.''

To do that on the spot, they need to have the results in hand to do something like that.

* * *

 **That's a rap, I hoped to reach a bit further but best leave it to next chapter.**

 **Who do you guys think will be Naruto's team?**

 **Next chapter might take like 2 weeks or so, going to go work on my other story. This one is relatively simple to write because I have a much clearer view of the chapter and less blocks.**


	3. Meet Team 9!

**Alright guys, chapter 3: Meet Team 9!**

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 ** _DISCLAIMER! THE FOLLOWING STORY IS PURELY FICTIONAL AND VT CREATOR DOESN'T OWN NOR PROFIT IN ANY WAY WITH IT'S CONTENTS. THE CHARACTERS AND UNIVERSER ARE ALL PROPRIERITY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO._**

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Normal speech: ''I'm going to be Hokage!''

Demon/Summon or Fusion speech: **''Hello Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner...''**

Human Thinking: 'Something's not right with that guy...'

Demon/Summon thinking: **'What the heck is that meat-sack doing…'**

Human sudden appearance: _''I'm coming for you, nigga.''_

Demon/Summon sudden appearance: **_''I've arrived, and so has your END.''_**

Word being stressed out in phrase, '' I want it now!''

 _Bang -_ Alone in the line with no quote marks, or sometimes appearing in line as only thing on italics- Onomatopoeia - sound ''Hello _munch_ my name's _munch crunch_ Akimichi Choji!''

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Hiruzen walked into Naruto's living room, looking around at the portraits and drawings on the walls. It is now night time, only a few hours since the Mizuki incident.

He had bought a few from her, one of himself that he keeps on the Hokage Mansion, one of Emma that she made on one instance that she managed the Monkey King, all it took was one glance for her to memorize something.

Her portraits and drawings were rather popular among some certain circles, there are a lot of very good artists on the village, but her work was still recognized due to the sheer amount of detail that she placed into them, leaving not a single hair out of place, even with using only a simple pencil. Even though few knew she existed at all, a lot knew about her work.

He'd grown quite fond of her, of both of them, but while Naruto is as tough as steel cactus, requiring hardly any care and withstanding anything, she needed a lot more attention.

''So Naruto, how is she doing?'' Hiruzen asked the boy after a few seconds. Noticing that Naruna isn't in the living room.

''Well…'' Naruto rubbed the back of his head, ''she's better now, I gave her a bath and she fell asleep. Was pretty upset a while ago, she's not used to getting in contact with others, being in so much movement.''

''I see…'' Hiruzen sighed, it saddened him that the girl had went through that, she is just a civilian, ''I'm glad she's better, would you like to tell me what happened

''Don't you already know everything, Jiji?'' Naruto asked, going to the couch. His wounds had all finished healing, not a single mark being left on his body to serve as proof that it all happened.

''I don't know everything that happens in the village, I have an idea from what Koharu told me, but would like to hear your version.'' Hiruzen said, not at all bothered by the boy's lack of respect, he knows that what he is getting now is the closest that he will come to any type of formality from him, it also is a casual visit, it the boy's apartment.

''Fine,'' The blond boy sighed, and then gestured for the Hokage to sit on the sofa as well ''after the exams I had went off to Ichiraku to tell them the news, I stayed there for a bit until I left to go home and check on Nana. I thought she was alone, and got worried that she didn't eat, so I rushed back...''

''Which was when you came across Koharu,'' Hiruzen continued, taking a seat, ''I see, go on.''

''Yea, this masked guy showed up and took her. I chased him all the way to the woods where you found us. He used her as a hostage and said that he would give her back if I stole something from you, I think it was a scroll.'' Naruto then said and the old man's eyes widened slightly.

''Did he say it was the Scroll of Seals?'' He asked and got an immediate response.

''Yea, that's the one!'' Naruto exclaimed and then shut his mouth upon remembering that Naruna had fallen asleep on the bed, he then glanced at the door of the room, which is slightly open, and saw that she only stirred a little in her bed.

''This is bad… Did he mention anything else, like why he wanted the scroll?'' Hiruzen asked and Naruto thought for a bit.

''Umm… I don't think he did, he just said that he wanted me to steal it. Anyways, Nana bit him and got away enough for me to go and kick him away, I then tried to run away with her, but he chased us down and threw that oversized shuriken at my back, it wasn't much later that you arrived…'' He trailed off, actually a bit embarrassed that he had lost his head.

''You did what you had to do, Naruto.'' Hiruzen said with a small smile, getting up from the couch, ''you protected your sister, your family there is no shame in that. I should be going now, you will have an even bigger day tomorrow, don't forget to go to the Hokage Mansion to renew your photo before going to meet your new team.''

Naruto yawned, ''do I have to? I like my current one…''

''Yes, you have to.'' Hirzen said in a heartbeat and then looked around the living room ''I probably shouldn't have let you use that one in the first place, you look like a clown in it, but if you don't want to take another photo, then you can use one of those.''

He pointed towards one of the facial portraits of Naruto on the wall, the thing is so detailed that it really wouldn't be a problem if it were to be used for his Ninja register.

''Sweet!'' He cheered, though still keeping his 'inside voice'.

''Alright then, till later.'' Hiruzen nodded to the boy and then left the apartment.

* * *

 **-Next day at school-**

The kids arrived at the school, Naruto simply sat on the first chair he saw, which happened to be a chair away from the Uchiha that he had met on the exam day. They both glanced at each other but none said a word, neither of them feeling the need to talk to one another.

''Oh, hey it's you, Naruto.'' Kiba said as he entered the classroom along with Shikamaru and saw the boy, ''I was wondering if you passed, you ran out so fast from the Academy that I couldn't ask how you went.''

''Of course I did, I'm glad to be using my head-band again, it's almost like a part of me.'' He said, pointing to his head-band with his thumb, ''now that we both passed, we should train together some time!'' Naruto said with a grin.

'Naruto-kun, I'm glad you passed…' Hinata thought as she observed the boy.

It was then that two people ran into the room.

''First!'' Sakura and Ino said at the same time, they both seem to be sweating a bit, showing that they ran a bit.

'Hmm…' Naruto thought turning his attention to the two girls. They both seemed out of breath, meaning either they ran a lot, or are out of shape, but judging from what he had seen from the Exam, it is probably the latter.

''Seems like I won again, Sakura.'' Ino told the pink-haired girl, a smug smirk on her face, trying to hide how tired she really is.

''Like hell you did, I had to look behind to see you, and my thumb is in front of yours.'' Sakura told her rival, and then they started arguing about it.

'She's pretty… But I hope I don't have to deal with that in my team…' Naruto thought as he watched them, 'ah, who am I kidding. I just hope to be in any team, don't care if it is with her.'

The two then stopped their arguing once Sakura looked in Naruto and Sauske's direction. She then smiled and ran towards them.

Naruto saw her running and got up, he thought that like any 'normal' person, she would stop upon reaching the table…

Only that she didn't.

''Good mor-'' Naruto started, only to get shoved out by the pink-haired girl.

''Beat it!'' Sakura rudely pushed him to the ground, and then flipped a 180 upon getting near Sauske, ''Umm… Good morning, Sauske-kun.''

Sauske looked at her for a handful of seconds before going back to look at the board, finding the empty thing to be much more interesting and much less annoying than the pink-haired girl.

''Can I sit next to you?'' Sakura asked shyly, as if she didn't just shove Naruto a couple of seconds ago.

Ino appeared into the group and grabbed her by the elbow, ''get out of here, forehead. I'm sitting with Sauske-kun.''

''No way, I'm sitting with Sauske-kun!'' Sakura pushed Ino back, ''I got here first!''

''No, I did. Everybody saw it!'' Ino pushed back.

Some other girls of the class also joined up in the argument to take the spot next to Sauske, while in the meanwhile, an annoyed Naruto got up and went back into his spot. He really wasn't expecting to be pushed, now though he filed her in the 'unfriendly' list, that Neji and a whole other bunch belong at.

Slowly the girls stopped arguing and then Sakura realized that Naruto had sat again on the table, consequently blocking her from Sauske.

''Hey, move it! I'm going to sit next to Sauske-kun!'' She yelled and Naruto looked at her with a annoyed stare, then looked at Sauske, whom seemed 'normal', but thanks to years of living with somebody that rarely gave any 'signs', he noticed that the boy really didn't want to sit next to her.

''No.'' Naruto answered simply, and she stepped back, ''you're annoying and rude, go sit somewhere else.''

''Why you…'' Sakura growled, but backed off once he narrowed his eyes, he had stopped playing around with her and treating her as a possible friend.

The other girls also got the message and backed away, then each tried to find the next closest table to Sauske.

While the Uchiha didn't like the blond, and was suspicious of him for the Exam, but he mentally thanked him for it.

 **-Somewhere else-**

The Hokage along with several jonins all watched the kids from Hiruzen's crystal ball.

''Hmm, he seems different than from the exam.'' Asuma noted when Naruto drove off the girls.

''Still… Using intimidation on an ally…'' Kurenai then added, she seemed a bit upset about something.

''Hey pops, is it true that he beat up Mizuki?'' Asuma asked the Hokage, whom exhaled from his pipe.

''The events of the last night aren't of your concern.'' Hiruzen told his son, setting his attention back at the crystal ball.

 **-Back at the school-**

''From today onwards, everyone here is a ninja. To get her you all had to pass through a lot of tests and challenges. But that is nothing compared to what you all will face from here onwards. Now you are all still genin, the first rank. Every genin is grouped in a team of three. Every team will be leaded by a Jonin, an elite ninja.'' Iruka spoke, and Naruto leaned back into his chair, already knowing all of that.

''Somebody is going to be on Sauske's team, who will it be?'' Ino teased Sakura.

''Who knows.'' Sakura replied, trying to keep her cool, while on the inside she thought, 'SHANNARO! I'm going to be with Sauske-kun! Stay way, you witch!'

Sasuke clicked his tongue, thinking about how it would only more people to slow him down.

''We want that every team is balanced in strength and skills. It was like that in which we made the selection.'' Iruka then said, and started reading at the papers in his hand.

As Iruka read the teams, Naruto got more and more impatient. Six teams and no sign of his name, could it be that the same thing would repeat this year?

''Team Seven: Akasha Kirigaya, Sakura Haruno, Sauske Uchiha.'' Iruka announced and both girls cheered, then glared at one another. Akasha being one of Sauske's fangirls a girl with brown hair split in half as a twin tails, while having a bun on the middle(1)

Sauske kept his cool on the outside, on the inside however…

'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!' Sauske screamed in his head, not one, but two freaking fangirls, '… I'm fucked…'

''Hehe,'' Sakura looked back at Ino and gave her a 'V' sign with a smug smirk, making Ino's eyebrow twitch.

''What, how'd you get in that team?'' Ino asked Sakura, closing her hands tight into fists.

Sakura turned back, satisfied with the victory.

''I don't understand what you see in that guy, he's nothing special.'' Shikamaru told Ino, whom then glared at him.

''You're so thick-headed, Shikamaru. You don't understand?'' Ino asked, and he stopped resting his head on his hand.

''No, because I'm not a girl.'' He replied quickly.

''You're so convinced. Jealousy is a terrible thing. I'd hate to be on your team.'' Ino then said, closing her eyes.

''Next is Team Eight: Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino.'' Iruka then announced, and Hinata deflated a bit, bummed about not being on Naruto's team. Kiba was okay with it, they weren't on the 'weak' list.

''Next is Team Nine: Kurama Yakumo, Uzumaki Naruto, Sai.'' Iruka announced and Naruto cheered, then looked around to try and find them, but didn't find them among the group around.

''Team Ten: Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru…'' Iruka said and Shikamaru smirked.

''What was that about being on the same team as me?'' Shikamaru asked, and Ino groaned.

''… And Akimichi Choji.'' Iruka finished and Ino sighed.

'Why the fatty…' She thought, lowering her head.

Seeing that all the teams had been called out, Akasha got up, ''Hey Sensei, why does she have to be on my team?'' She asked, pointing at Sakura

''Sakura passed with the highest grades among girls, Sauske passed with the highest among boys. You passed with the lowest, so we put you in the team to balance it.'' Iruka replied and the kids around laughed, making the girl deflate.

''After lunch you will all meet your jonin sensei, until then you are all dismissed.'' Iruka said and then left the room.

The majority of the kids left quickly, Sauske included, wanting to stay as far away from the two girls.

'I wonder who Yakumo and Sai are…' Naruto thought, watching as the kids around left, 'kind of strange not having a surname…'

As the crowd of kids left, Naruto noticed two that were looking around for somebody, a brown-haired girl and a pale black-haired boy with a tanto on his back.

''Umm… Are you two Yakumo and Sai?'' Naruto asked, walking over to the two and getting a good look at them. The brown-haired girl seemed a bit frail and thin, but Naruto thought of her as cute. The black-haired boy also seemed somewhat thin, though not as frail as the girl.

''Yes, I'm Yakumo.'' She said, analyzing him, ''Are you Uzumaki Naruto?''

''You bet I am!'' Naruto said with a large grin, pointing at himself with his thumb, 'then you must be Sai.''

Sai looked at him for a few seconds and then nodded with a small smile on his face. (2)

''Cool, how about we go get something to eat, to get to know each other?'' Naruto asked and Yakumo stopped to think about it for a few seconds.

''Okay, but you're paying.'' She said and he 'deflated'.

''Poor Gama-chan…'' He said to himself and Sai chuckled. ''You coming with us also, I know just the place.''

While normally his favorite place is Ichiraku Ramen, he'd been going there a lot lately and for as much as they should, not everybody shared his love for ramen, so he decided to take them to another place that he liked a lot, the Dango Shop.

And so they went, Naruto thought back to the Exam day and remembered the two, or at least tried, he remembered that Yakuma was there and failed the combat part of the physical exam, but he didn't remember seeing Sai there, he also couldn't remember if they were on the playground when he observed the students months back.

 **-few minutes later-**

Thanks to it being relatively close to the school, it didn't take them long to reach the shop and take a seat on one of the tables, Naruto on one side, Yakumo and Sai opposite of him on another.

''So… Tell me about you guys. What you like, dislike, and your dreams.'' Naruto started the conversation, and then decided that he should probably start, ''you two already know my name, its Naruto Uzumaki. I like ramen of all types, training and my sister. I dislike the time it takes to cook instant ramen and bullies… My dream is to become the strongest!''

Yakumo and Sai stared at him for a few seconds before exchanging looks among themselves.

''I like to paint and flowers, I dislike Yuuhi Kurenai. My dream is to become the best genjutsu user of the world.'' She spoke and Sai perked up at her liking painting, while Naruto wondered who this Kurenai is.

''Umm…'' Sai looked around nervously, ''I like to draw…''

Both Yakumo and Naruto blinked a couple of times, waiting for him to continue, but he never did, instead he went back into eating his momen tofu.

''Okay…'' Naruto sighed then glanced at Yakumo, ''kind of cool that you both like that, I know somebody that also likes drawing, though she doesn't paint…'' mostly because they couldn't afford too much paint, but they didn't need to know that, ''so you use genjutsu and you use that sword thingy?''

''It's a tanto.'' Sai corrected him quickly, ''I'm also practicing a special ninjutsu.''

''Special ninjutsu?'' Yakumo asked, taking a bite of her dango.

''I'm still working on it…'' Sai answered and she decided to let it go and turn to Naruto.

''What about you, what do you do?'' Yakumo asked the blond boy, whom puffed his chest.

''I'm awesome!'' He exclaimed with a grin, making both of the two sweatdrop, ''well… I can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, so I'm sticking with taijutsu!''

Yakumo's eyes widened, ''Ooh, so you're like Lee?''

''Nope,'' he shook his head, confusing her, ''I know Lee, we sort of studied together, but I'm not like him. He can't use his chakra for shits and giggles, I can't because I don't have chakra in my body.''

''How's that possible?'' Yakumo asked and he shrugged, ''but if you don't have chakra, then would genjutsu work on you?''

''I don't know how it's possible, was born like this.'' He said and then thought for a bit, ''I don't know, can't remember anybody ever trying.''

Naruto then went back to eating while Yakumo made a note to test genjutsu on him to see how it goes and then started eating her dangos as well. Their break isn't that long, only like around thirty minutes long, so they had to finish up quick to go back to the academy.

Quickly finishing up, Sai paid for his part and Naruto paid for both his and Yakumo's, thankfully it was just a few dango sticks and didn't end up being expensive.

When they arrived back at the Academy, they saw that a few of the Jonin teachers were leaving with their teams to go to other places, none that Naruto recognized. Yakumo spotted Kurenai leaving with her team and glared at the woman's back.

'Is that Kurenai?' Naruto thought, staring at the woman's back, 'I wonder what happened…'

The genjutsu mistress glanced back at them and noticed Yakumo's glare, she looked into the younger girl's eyes for a second before continuing her way with her team.

''You okay?'' Naruto asked Yakumo, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She seemed to 'wake' up upon feeling his hand and nodded, ''I'm fine. Let's go, our sensei must be inside.''

''Alright,'' Naruto said, going towards the Academy, only to stop upon feeling a cold chill run down his spine.

 _''Where do you think you're going?_ '' Spoke a voice from behind the three kids, making them all turn around, Sai pulling out his tanto on reflex.

The person being a tall man with blood red eyes, having three tomoes on each of them, under his eyes which are long, pronounced teat-troughs. He has jet-black hair that is pulled back in a low ponytail, the leaf head-band on his forehead. His clothes being a simple black shirt with the Uchiha fan on the back along with a tanto.

''Woah, don't creep up on me like that. Who are you?'' Naruto asked and the man stared at them, the tomoes on his eyes slowly spinning around the pupil.

''I am Uchiha Itachi, Jonin sensei of Team Nine.'' The man said calmly.

 **-Several months ago-**

''I see…'' Hiruzen thought for a few seconds, ''I will consider it, next. Oh, it's your turn.''

''Heh,'' Asuma rubbed the back of his head, ''well you already know my team, so we can skip it.''

''Mhmm…'' Hiruzen nodded, and looked around to see if there is anybody else. It has been a century long tradition for a Sarutobi to train the main members of the Ino-Shika-Cho. Not seeing any other Jonin, he sighed and glanced at Danzo, then back at the folder to see if there were any other genin left, only to find none. ''Well…''

A flock of crows swarmed the room and joined together on the center to form a humanoid figure.

''You…'' Kakashi's sole eye widened, as he recognized the person, ''what are you doing here, Itachi?''

''I'm here for my team.'' Itachi said calmly, looking at the jonins around with his always active Sharingans.

''Well I can't say I was expecting you to calm down as a simple jonin.'' Asuma said while placing both his hands into his pockets, ''though you're a bit late, which is normally Kakashi's thing, all the teams have been picked.''

''Is that so?'' Kakashi asked, shifting his gaze from Asuma to the Hokage, something that the younger Sarutobi was thankful for, it was always unsettling to stare at them crimson orbs, ''was he picked for any teams?''

Hiruzen shook his head, ''No he wasn't, so far he is the odd one out, again.''

''I see…'' Itachi closed his eyes for a few seconds, ''if that is the case, then I know my team.''

Everybody there knew who they are talking about, they had just discussed it a for a couple of minutes. Asuma watched silently with a raised brow, along with the other jonins whom didn't want to interrupt the two.

''Well, say it then.'' Hiruzen urged the young man, one of the village's most promising ninja, and one of the strongest.

''I want Uzumaki Naruto and Kurama Yakumo.'' Itachi said firmly and Kurenai's eyes widened.

''Yakumo? How, she can't be a ninja. I sealed her powers.'' Kurenai protested to the Hokage, whom massaged his temples and looked at Itachi.

''You did, and I unsealed them.'' Itachi said to the woman in his usual calm tone, ''after your failure, and the death of the clan head, I was requested to 'fix' it…''

''Hey, don't talk to her like that!'' Asuma said, getting in front of Kurenai protectively.

''It is what happened,'' He said simply, completely unfazed by him, ''I found that sealing it wouldn't be effective, so I used my sharingan to downgrade her dark side to a more acceptable level. With her in my team, I can teach her properly how to use genjutsu while keeping her dark side in check.''

In truth, what he had done was much more complicated, and required his Mangekyou, but they didn't need to know the details.

Kurenai gritted her teeth, for a ninja, to have another one fix their mistake is one big humiliation. She had failed in completely sealing the girl's powers, which ended up with the death of the head of the main branch.

''Still… You're missing one person.'' Kakashi said from the sidelines, trying to divert the attention and defuse the tension.

Itachi looked at Kakashi and then at Danzo.

''If it is necessary, then I can lend you one of my genins, until you possibly find another one to occupy the spot.'' The war-hawk said and Itachi immediately knew that there the favor would come with a price.

''That settles it then, you are all dismissed'' Hiruzen said, and the jonins nodded and left, though when Itachi was to leave, he got up, ''except you Itachi… There is something you should know about Naruto…''

 **-Present day-**

''Wait, what do you mean with 'another test'?'' Naruto asked his new sensei, Itachi.

After meeting in front of the school, they decided to go to a park nearby for the team meeting.

''I mean exactly that.'' Itachi said, taking a seat on a bench, ''every genin team has to go through a test to decide whether you should be a ninja, or not… If you pass the test, you get to stay in the team to do missions, if you fail, you can never be a ninja.''

Yakumo's eyes widened and Naruto grinned, Sai… Well he didn't seem phased by it one bit.

''Doesn't matter, I'm sure we will pass, dattebayo!'' Naruto exclaimed with confidence, passing some of it to his more insecure companion, Yakumo. ''What's the test, Itachi-sensei?''

Itachi closed his eyes and pulled a scroll from his pouch, ''your test is simple, go to Training ground forty-four and retrieve a casket.''

''Only that, sounds simple enough. We can do it with no sweat!'' Naruto exclaimed and Itachi raised a brow, knowing that he would soon learn that the task isn't as easy as he thinks.

''If that is so, then you won't need this map…'' Itachi talked, going to pocket the scroll in his hand, and Yakumo got in front of Naruto.

''Uhh, don't listen to him, Sensei. He's just excited about the challenge…'' Yakumo said nervously, trying to look at the man in the eyes.

Itachi stared at her for a few seconds, before extending the scroll to her. ''Very well, you all have until nine to return to this spot with the casket.''

''Until nine…'' Naruto said to himself out loud, ''we must hurry then, does anybody know where the training ground is?'' He asked looking back at his new teammates, getting no response from them he then turned back to Itachi, only to not find him there, ''dammit, our sensei is Batman!''

''Who's Batman?'' Yakumo asked, looking at him with a confused expression.

''He's a comic book character, a ninja that fights bandits in a dark spandex suit… '' He shook his head, ''anyways, any of you know where the training ground is?''

''I don't get out of my clan compound much…'' Yakumo said, looking around.

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and was about to talk, when he noticed Sai step up.

''I know where it is, but it is on the other side of the village.'' Sai said, and then pointed to the East. ''We will have to hurry to get there in time to start searching for the casket.''

''Alright, let's go then!'' Naruto grinned and started running, Sai nodded and joined him, but after a couple of seconds, both boys noticed that Yakumo wasn't with them.

They looked back and saw that she was running, but at a very slow, civilian pace.

Naruto quickly returned to her, he could see that she was starting to sweat even though she had just ran a few feet and was starting to breath heavily, ''is there something wrong?''

''I…'' She stopped to recover her breath, ''I can't run like you guys can, my body's too weak…''

''Hmm…'' Naruto hummed, and then got on one knee with his back turned to her, ''why didn't you say so then? Here, hop on, I will be your legs.''

Yakumo blushed and shook her head repeatedly, ''no, no I can't do that…''

''Stop being silly, it's alright…'' Naruto paused for a few seconds and then smiled, ''we are supposed to be a team, right? A team has to work together, we all have our quirks and problems, you should train yourself to try getting better, but in the meanwhile you can count on me. ''

Yakumo stared at his back, a bit taken back by his words, and then hesitantly climbed onto his back, her cheeks with a nice pink c4olor.

Sai, seeing that she had climbed onto Naruto's back, resumed his run towards the training ground.

 **-Fifty minutes later-**

It took fifty minutes of constant running to reach the training ground, a number which would have been much larger if they went on a civilian pace.

''You need to sign these before going any further,'' said a chunin that was guarding the area, giving them each a paper.

''Huh, what are these for?'' Naruto asked, taking his and Yakumo's papers.

''They are to guarantee that we and the village aren't responsible for any accidents, or deaths that result in the forest.'' The chunin spoke with a smirk, Sai immediately signed his paper the second that he got his.

''Oh, alright.'' Naruto then said as Yakumo got off his back, ''how bad can this place be?''

''Is this your first times here?'' The chunin asked and both Naruto and Yakumo nodded, ''well, you'll find out soon enough.''

''Pfft, your just trying to scare me. I'm not afraid of a forest!'' Naruto said with a grin and then quickly signed the paper.

''We have to sign this to go in?'' Yakumo asked and he nodded, then she sighed and signed hers as well.

''Good luck out there kids,'' the chunin said and Naruto gave a thumbs up.

''Umm… Sai.'' Yakumo went to the pale boy, ''I think you should hold the map.'' She then extended the scroll to him.

Sai stared at it for a few seconds, took it and opened it. It is an overview of the forest with an 'X' marked on the North-Wests side of it, near the river. Though the map wasn't to trustworthy, given how small it is, for the massive size of the training ground, the 'X' covered at least a few hundred meters of ground.

''I think North is that way, and we are here'' Sai said after glancing upwards, pointing to a spot on the map, ''we should go through this gate to come out the closest to the spot.''

Naruto nodded and knelt down for Yakumo to climb up his back. The girl blushed a bit and got on him, still feeling very much embarrassed about it.

''Yosh! Lead the way, Sai!'' Naruto said with enthusiasm, and his pale team-mate leaded the way, first to the North to go through the closest gate and then inside the forest itself.

Inside, Naruto admitted that the place really wasn't as 'friendly' as he initially thought, the place was filled with swamps and the trees are all massive, thankfully though the area marked wasn't too far from the gate…

''Those are a lot of tigers…'' Naruto said, swallowing a lump in his throat, up ahead on a clearing next to the main river that crossed the forest is one massive, pointy rock, with at least a dozen extremely large tigers guarding it, themselves being on the branch of a tree around fifty-meters away from the rock.

''I didn't know tigers could get that big…'' Yakumo said and Sai pointed to the top of the rock.

''The casket is over there.'' Sai said and Naruto sighed.

''It just had to be…'' The blond said, hanging his head low, he then looked upwards at the darkening sky, ''I don't think we have much time, it's like five?''

''Must be, I've learned how to climb using chakra on my feet, I can try climbing up the rock to get it.'' Sai said and Naruto rubbed his chin.

''I can help… I can try using my genjutsu to knock them unconscious or bring them to sleep, but…'' Yakumo got out from his back and pulled out a scroll, ''for me to cast my genjutsus, I need to paint them…''

''Wow, really?! That's awesome!'' Naruto said with a grin, and she unsealed a canvas, paint brush and some small jars of paint. ''Then I have an idea!''

He jumped off the branch and gave them a thumbs up, ''I'm counting on you guys!''

''Is he going to…'' Yakumo started, and Sai nodded.

Naruto started walking towards the tigers, which had spotted him the second that he jumped off the tree.

''Hey! Over-grown fur-balls!'' He shouted at the felines, then tossed a pebble at the biggest one of them, ''Come and g- oh shit!''

He turned around and ran, towards the lake as the tigers all came after him, leading them away from both the rock and the overall area that his team-mates are.

''We should start now…'' Sai said, jumping off the tree when the tigers had all turned away from them.

Seeing their example, Yakumo took the brush and started.

''Oh shit, oh shit oh shit…'' Naruto cursed as he ran from pack of tigers, he would never again believe it when somebody says that tigers go solo. For such big things, they sure ran fast, he practically flew through the lake and thought that he would get a break, but apparently the 'cat's don't like water' rule didn't apply to them.

Instead, they only seemed to gain more ground on him, the one that he threw the rock on, being the one that is leading the way.

Getting near some trees, he jumped towards its branches to catch a breath, only for the beasts to pounce.

His mind told him that it is impossible, while his instincts told him to get the heck out of there, his mind had been wrong a couple of times, while his instincts had yet to fail him.

Back flipping away, the tiger's paw smashed and brought down the branch that he stood in.

''Shieeet.'' He watched as the pack started climbing the trees around, while he landed on the branch of another tree.

Not wanting to stand still and wait to become tiger chow, he leapt from his branch to another higher, then to another tree, and kept going up, switching trees every so-and-so.

Problem was that there are simply too many tigers, and what they didn't have in speed, they made up with organization, so he quickly found himself losing space to them.

Pulling out several dark balls from one of his three pouches and tossed them around, engulfing the area in a cloud of purple smoke. A move that turned out to be a mistake, for three seconds after, one of the tigers tackled him and sent him crashing downwards through several branches.

Impacting harshly against the ground, Naruto recovered quickly and rolled to the side, just in time to evade the alfa, whom landed on the spot that he had been on, cracking the ground.

Although he evaded it, he now found himself completely surrounded by them, from the sides, from above, they had him cornered, and just as they were about to pounce on him, they suddenly started squirming around before slumping to the ground.

Regaining his breath, he looked at the tigers and saw that they had all been knocked out cold, then looked towards Yakumo and saw that she is with Sai, whom is holding a wooden casket.

'Right on time…' He thought to himself, giving them thumbs up, and then ran in their direction, not wanting to be around them tigers any longer.

''What's wrong with you?'' Yakumo slapped him on the arm once he reached them, ''what type of plan was that?''

''Hey, I said I had a plan. Didn't say it was a good one,'' he laughed it off and she glared at him, ''c'mon, it all turned out alright. I knew that you guys had my back.''

''You only know us for a day and I almost didn't finish in time, what if I didn't?'' She asked and he started removing the dust and dirt from his clothes.

''But you did, like I knew you would, if I can't trust my team, then this would never work out, I don't care if we know each other for a day, or a year. We are a team and I will give a hundred and ten percent for you,'' He replied with conviction, then crouched down, ''besides, you can be sure that I won't die to a bunch of overgrown fur balls, no matter what, dattebayo!''

''You idiot…'' She said and then sighed, ''we're running out of time, we have to return.''

After climbing up his back, they quickly left the training ground and rushed back towards the park, to find Itachi on a bench eating dango.

''Sensei, we got it! Did we pass?'' Naruto asked as he stopped in front of the black-haired man.

He stared at them blankly, and then flicked the dango-stick at a trashcan.

''Give it to me,'' He extended his hands and Sai gave him the casket. He then pulled out a key from his pocket, unlocked it and opened it, revealing three necklaces inside, each with a magatama. ''Congratulations, you all passed.''

''Yatta!'' Naruto cheered, taking one of the necklaces, followed by Sai and then Yakumo.

''We will meet here every day at 9:00 AM, don't be late…'' He said and disappeared in a flock of crows.

* * *

(1)Team 7 is generally formed by top male, top female and dead last. None of the clan heirs aren't going to fall in dead last, not even Kiba… It is mentioned that nobody had failed (episode 1 – the women outside when Naruto is on the swing) so that means that even the fangirls passed, I'm not placing Kiba beneath fangirls… That is just wrong… So instead the Dead Last is a fangirl. Akasha is that girl on episode 3 that is arguing with Sakura and Ino about being with Sauske I am making up her name because can't find anything on her. She's just a civilian.

So sorry Sauske XD you're on your own buddy…

(2)Young Sai, so he isn't completely emotionless.

* * *

 **To Guest Shynemon: I know it's a strange idea, but trust me, I've got it covered, a good line of growth to him, and a solid storyline. It also happens that Playing with Fire was a part of my childhood, I loved that game and it's sequels XD**

 **To the rest: Thank you for support! It is the few reviews that I get in here that motivates me to write. This chapter was exceptionally hard, I admit I rushed it a little, but after reading it a couple of times, I found myself satisfied, hope you all like it also.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright guys, chapter 4:**

* * *

 ** _DISCLAIMER! THE FOLLOWING STORY IS PURELY FICTIONAL AND VT CREATOR DOESN'T OWN NOR PROFIT IN ANY WAY WITH ITS CONTENTS. THE CHARACTERS AND UNIVERSER ARE ALL PROPRIERITY OF MASASHI KISHIMOTO._**

* * *

Normal speech: ''I'm going to be Hokage!''

Demon/Summon or Fusion speech: **''Hello Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner...''**

Human Thinking: 'Something's not right with that guy...'

Demon/Summon thinking: **'What the heck is that meat-sack doing…'**

Human sudden appearance: _''I'm coming for you, nigga.''_

Demon/Summon sudden appearance: **_''I've arrived, and so has your END.''_**

Word being stressed out in phrase, '' I want it now!''

 _Bang -_ Alone in the line with no quote marks, or sometimes appearing in line as only thing on italics- Onomatopoeia - sound ''Hello _munch_ my name's _munch crunch_ Akimichi Choji!''

* * *

Life as a genin wasn't how he first expected it to be.

Ever since graduation, he along with his team had been alternating between group training in the morning, chores or D-ranks at afternoon and personal training at night.

The sun is setting and we now find our blond hero jumping through the rooftops of the village, his friend and team-mate Yakumo on his back. They had just about finished the last D-rank of the day and Naruto is taking the brown-haired girl home, to the Kurama Clan compound on the outskirts of the village.

After a long day of tiring, yet simple chores and training. Although the missions that they had been getting are supposed to be simple and easy, they could still be taxing for somebody with below civilian physical attributes.

By now she'd come to accept being carried by the blond, it still embarrassed her a lot, especially when they are on the village, but she'd came to terms with it.

She'd just got started with physical activities and it is all very new for her, during the missions she has been trying her best to catch up with them and stop being a burden to him and the team.

''Uh, we're here, Yakumo…'' Naruto said to the girl as he stopped in front of the compound's entrance, ''Yakumo?'' he then glanced backwards, to see that she had fallen asleep with her head on his shoulder.

'She's been giving her best lately… I probably shouldn't wake her up… 'He thought and then looked around, 'but how am I supposed to know which house is hers? This is as far as I ever got…'

Taking a few seconds to think about it, he recalled the general direction that he had seen her walk off to. There aren't many, if any people in the compound, there were two chunins guarding the entrance, and a couple of kids playing around, but that is about it.

'In hindsight… I probably should have asked one of those guys if they knew…' Naruto thought while looking around to try and catch a hint of her house.

 _''Excuse me young man,''_ An elderly voice spoke from behind Naruto, prompting him to turn around and face him, an elderly man with light-brown hair, small black eyes and using a white haori, ''what are you doing?''

Naruto stared at the man for a few seconds before giving a sheepish smile, ''I'm kind of lost…'' If his hands were free, he would have scratched the back of his head, ''you see, we're teammates and I was and was bringing her home, but she sort of fell asleep and I got no clue which house she lives in.''

The old man narrowed his eyes and stared at the young man, before finally nodding and pointing to Naruto's right, ''it's the big one in the end of the street, you can't miss it.''

''Oh, alright. Thanks jii-san.'' Naruto then said and turned towards the direction that the man had pointed, had he looked back then he would have seen the man body flicker towards the roof of one of the houses nearby, to keep watching him.

True enough, he found the house at end of the street, a large three-story tall mansion, really was hard to not see it. There is a small garden on the front along with a pond, and no gate or any type of protection.

'He really wasn't kidding when he said that I couldn't miss it…' Naruto thought as he contemplated the place, 'now how am I going to get in…'

With his hands holding Yakumo's legs and keeping her on his back, he wouldn't be able to open the door even if it were unlocked, thankfully one of the windows on the third floor was open, so he steadied Yakumo, took a few steps back for impulse and leaped inside.

The window led to a bedroom, a relatively large one, at least twice as larger than his own. The floor is made of a nice and sturdy, dark wood, it has a large bed on the southern with two large wardrobes on the north and eastern walls, a mirror on the center of the northern wardrobe along with a clock, a lot of free, unoccupied space in between the furniture. A door leading towards the hallway on the north-west part, while on the south-west, besides the bed is a blank painting canvas and a co

'This must be her room…' Naruto thought, looking around the place for a few seconds before settling his eyes on the bed, 'will just leave her here then.'

Carefully removing her from his back and laying her on the bed, he noticed that she has several scratches on her wrists and feet, the only two exposed parts of her body, due to her training.

''Ugh…'' Yakumo stirred around in the bed, slowly opening her eyes, ''what happened…?''

''You fell asleep, that's what happened.'' Naruto replied, taking a step back and tucking his hands in his pockets, ''just to be sure, this is your house, right?''

''Huh?'' She groggily made herself upright, rubbed her eyes and then looked at him and her surroundings, ''Oh, it's you. What are you doing in my room, Naruto?''

''…'' He stared at her blankly, waiting for her to register what he had just said, knowing well how some people can be slow to 'wake up'.

He didn't have to wait long, first her eyes widened as it sank in, and then she blushed as she truly began to comprehend what had happened, 'I fell asleep… He brought me home and… Placed me in bed… This is so embarrassing…'

''Well at least I know this is indeed the right house.'' Naruto then said, mostly to himself, ''seriously though, why so big? This room is nearly the size of my apartment.''

Yakumo blinked a couple of times and then brought her index finger to her chin, ''my parents were the clan heads, after this place was burned, the people of my clan rebuilt it even bigger… I'm not sure why though.''

''Mhmm…'' He closed his eyes and thought for a few seconds, now he has more questions than before, and there are already a bunch of things that he wants to know about her, like her hate for Kurenai Yuhi, but just like that as well, he decided to put it on 'hold'. ''Well, I will see you tomorrow then, oh right. I had forgot! I was thinking about asking sensei for us to get harder missions, maybe a C rank or a B, I'm tired of these chores, what do you say?''

She yawned and then thought for a few seconds, On one side, she found them 'chores' to be a bit humiliating, and she couldn't see how they would help her get better in genjutsu, while on the other side it is actually tiring, the D-Ranks took a lot of her, and she was afraid of how the higher missions would be. So opted to just leave it to him the decision.

''If you want to, then okay.'' Was her answer, and he nodded.

''Alrighty then, I would ask Sai what he thinks, but had forgot and I don't really know where he lives or what he does when we aren't around… Actually, I don't know anything about him, not even his last name.'' He said and she giggled.

''I don't think he has one.'' Yakumo said, and he shook his head.

''Of course he does, he has to have a last name… Anyways, I better get going, ciao.'' He flashed her a smile and then jumped off the window. On his way down, he noticed several silhouettes spread around the rooftops of the smaller houses, all of which body flickered away by the time he reached the ground.

Naruto chalked it up to being security and simply walked away.

'Ichiraku must be closing now and Ayame onee-chan said she would check up on Nana after closing, so I can probably jam some training now, even if just a little.' He thought as he went.

Ayame had started helping out whenever she could, since the Mizuki incident, for as much as he wanted to be around his beloved sister, despite how limited their interactions are, he had to train hard and get stronger for her.

As he reached his new training ground, he recognized several familiar people, fellow genin, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Hyuga Hinata and a beautiful adult woman.

''Kiba, Hinata, and um…'' He greeted the two and paused, making the four sweat-drop, ''Shino, waddup? You guys on a mission?''

''Hell yeah we are!'' Kiba gain a large, toothy grin, ''we are on our first C-rank!''

''Damn, you lucky dog.'' Naruto sighed, ''hows the mission going?''

At that, Kiba 'deflated'.

''Our mission is to identify and capture a creature that has been thrashing the training grounds, but we've had no success thus far…'' Shino said and Naruto blinked, twice.

''But aren't training grounds supposed to be broken down and well… Used?'' Naruto asked and Hinata started poking her fingers together.

''It doesn't matter, this is the mission that the Hokage gave us. Apparently there have been some complaints, on how suddenly it has been happening.'' The adult woman said from behind the three kids, and Naruto turned his attention to her.

''Oh right, Naruto. This is our sensei, Kurenai.'' Kiba introduced her and Naruto's eyes narrowed.

'She's the woman that Yakumo hates?' Naruto thought, looking at her from top to bottom, 'she seems like a nice person, I wonder what happened between them.'

Kurenai noticed him 'checking' her out and narrowed her eyes at him, Hinata also noticed and like her sensei, completely misunderstood him and frowned.

''Well, I got to get going, have fun with the mission!'' He then said and walked passed them towards the training ground, only to halt himself mid-way as if remembering something, ''wait, you said that something was wrecking the training grounds? Which ones?''

''Over the course of two weeks, it were training grounds five to twenty.'' Shino answered, and then adjusted his shades, ''do you know something?''

''Five to twenty…'' Naruto repeated to himself, rubbing his chin, ''oh yea! I went through them these last two weeks! But I don't remember seeing any monster in them… Then again my memory is kind of fuzzy, this new technique I've been testing… No, no, I would have remembered seeing a monster. I probably should pay more attention now,''

The members of team Kurenai all shared a look among themselves until the woman shook her head in a 'no' gesture.

'There is no way that he could have done all of that by himself with no jutsu…' Kurenai thought and stepped forward, ''you say your memory is 'fuzzy', how so?''

''It's my newest technique, it's very hard to control.'' He then said and Kurenai's eyebrow twitched.

''Newest technique? What are you talking about, you have no chakra.'' She said and he narrowed his eyes.

''I see… So you're just like the others. I guess this might be why Yakumo dislikes you,'' he resumed his path towards the training ground, ''this is a waste of my time, there's no point in staying here any longer.''

Kurenai gritted her teeth silently in anger, anger that even she didn't know why. He is a boy, a genin, what he does or says shouldn't bother her, yet it still did. Thing is, he isn't 'just' a boy, he is the chakraless one, an abomination. What did he know about her? So she, along with her team, followed him to the training ground twenty-one.

Upon arriving, Naruto took his shirt off, got into a horse stance and then closed his eyes in concentration, he clenched his fists and his body started trembling, only to suddenly stop when Kurenai and the others entered. Hinata immediately blushed crimson upon seeing him, and Kurenai raised an eyebrow, wondering what he 'thinks' he is doing.

''What do you guys want?'' Naruto asked, crossing his arms.

''You say that your memory is fuzzy because of a technique, but with no chakra, I can't imagine you doing anything.'' Kurenai replied and he chuckled.

''You want to see it then? How about we all spar then? If you guys turn out to be strong enough, then I will show you.'' He said and got into a stance, a very simple one, his left foot and hand ahead, right foot behind, right hand raised to chest level.

''Alright!'' Kiba stepped forward with a grin and Akamaru barked from besides him, ''I've been wanting this since graduation.''

Before Kurenai and the others could even stop Kiba, he had launched himself towards Naruto and threw a punch at the blonds face. Unfortunately for him, Naruto's guard wasn't up just for show. The blond used his left-hand to parry the punch to the side, and throw his balance off just enough for himself to get to his side and kick him behind the knee, forcing him to kneel, then followed up with a kick to his back of his head, forcing his head to the ground.

All in the span of three seconds.

'Fast!' Kurenai thought, eyes wide open, hardly believing what she had just seen. Her expression mirrored that of Hinata, and Shino behind his shades.

''These past weeks I've been focusing the majority of my training on my speed, rather than my strength, you guys will have to try harder than this.'' Naruto said, and Akamaru growled at him, showing his teeth.

''What… Are… You guys doing? Don't just stand there, give me a hand here!'' Kiba said as he tried to raise his head from the dirt. Naruto took a step back and actually allowed him to get up, finding the ancient proverb 'don't kick a dog when it's down', to be quite fitting for the situation.

''Um… I… I'm not sure how…'' Hinata said meekly from besides Kurenai and Shino, ''he has no chakra…''

''Same for me, my kikaichu aren't obeying me, they don't want to go.'' Shino then said, adjusting his shades.

''What do you two mean by that?'' Kiba asked after getting up, then went back to their side. All the while Naruto simply crossed his arms.

''I don't fully understand either, they refuse to go towards him. It first happened in the Academy, I tried sending one of my kikaichu to try and get information on him, if there is any chakra on him or if it was some type of trick, but they rejected my commands, back then I thought that maybe I hadn't trained them enough, though now I can see that it isn't the case.'' Shino said and made one of the bugs appear on his hand, then flicked it towards Naruto.

The bug hovered around and above the blond for a few seconds before finally returning to Shino's hand.

''They are confused, they don't recognize him as a target.'' He then analyzed, bringing the bug to his own eye level.

''I'm also not sure how I can attack…'' Hinata activated her byakugan, ''he doesn't have a chakra pathway to block…''

It all suddenly 'clicked' in Kurenai's head, 'because he has no chakra, the kikaichu don't recognize him as a target and ignore orders involving him, treating him as if he isn't even there, and the gentle fist wouldn't work because there isn't a chakra pathway to seal… But wait a second, in his file it says that he always lost when he sparred against Hyuga Neji…'

Naruto snapped his fingers as if remembering something, ''oh, of course. I thought you seemed familiar, you're related to Neji, right?''

''Umm… You know Neji nii-san?'' Hinata asked, deactivating her Byakugan. Her eyes special ability hindered her more than helped, for with it activated, it is like he isn't even there.

''I know the ass-hat, we studied on the same class, you're his sister?'' He asked, crossing his arms once more. To the kids, it seemed like he had lowered his guard, but to Kurenai, now that she actually started looking for the 'signs', she could see that he is high-alert and ready.

''We are cousins…'' She said meekly, blushing from the attention of him and everybody, and trying not to look at his chest.

''I see, alright then. I really have better things to do, so let's get this over with… '' He went back into his stance, ''if you don't want to come to me, then it is my turn to attack…''

To the three other genin, he disappeared, one second he was there, the other he vanished. Their sensei Kurenai managed to roughly follow his movements, but ultimately also lost track of him.

'Not in front, not behind and not on the sides…' Kurenai scanned the area for him, ''above!'' she shouted and a shadow appeared in between the four. Reacting quickly, all four jumped back just as Naruto crashed, slamming both of his fists at the ground, sending a shockwave and bringing up a cloud of dust as well as exploding a pair of smoke pellets that he had on each of his hands.

'This is bad…' Kurenai thought as the dust, dirt and smoke covered her vision, she had underestimated him and it turned out to be one big mistake. The dust and dirt are now hindering Kiba's sense of smell, as well as everybody's sight, and Hinata's byakugan and Shino's kikaichu are both useless to locate him.

The one thing in her favor is that they hadn't separated.

''Diamond formation.'' Kurenai said and her three genin joined her in a back-to-back formation, then each took two steps forward and pulled a kunai from their pouch. ''Remember our training, leave our backs to ourselves and keep your guards up.''

Naruto, having jumped out of the area of dirt right after crashing, saw their silhouettes in formation and launched himself towards them like a missile, literally. He jumped on one of the tree and used it to propel himself forward. Right into Shino, head-butting him in the stomach and sending him flying backwards.

Leaving Hinata, Kurenai, Kiba and Akamaru left on the center.

Akamaru barked and Kiba gritted his teeth and did a hand-sign to use his clan's trademark technique, the man-beast clone, and turn his ninken partner into a copy of himself.

Now the smoke started to fade away to give them a little more visibility, the first thing that they saw is Naruto, in a stance similar to the one that he was previously using, only that his right hand is tucked behind his hip, as if preparing to give a punch.

And a punch he did, into the air.

An invisible force started pushing what remained of the smoke, which was what alarmed Kurenai, the first and only one to notice what is happening. Having time to do only one thing, before the wave hit them, she got in front of Hinata and the Kibas, crossed her arms and anchored her feet to the ground with chakra, allowing it to hit her dead on.

Thankfully for her, the wave didn't have all that much power behind it, and it only pushed her a half a foot back while bruising her arms slightly. At best if she hadn't anchored herself to the ground, it would have thrown her a few yards back but not cause all that much damage either way.

''Damn, he's good… But this time you won't catch me off guard!' Kiba yelled and then gave a quick glance at his companion, ''let's go, Akamaru!''

''Wait, Kiba!'' Kurenai tried to stop him, but he along with Akamaru were already making their way towards Naruto, whom blurred and met them half way, appearing directly in front of the transformed Akamaru, which tried to swipe at his face, only for the blond to duck beneath and counter with a punch to the gut.

Poor Akamaru was sent backwards towards Kurenai and Hinata, his transformation dispelling mid-way.

Kiba took the opportunity and time to attack Naruto and give him a punch to the face with all of his strength to achieve retribution for what had happened before and for hitting Akamaru just now.

 _Smack._

The sound of Kiba's right hook impacting with Naruto's cheek resounded in the field, turning his face to the right.

When the Inuzaka went to retreat his hand to possibly try giving another punch, Naruto grabbed his wrist with his left hand and immediately kneed him in the gut, lifting him from the ground, then followed up with a round-house kick, sending him back Hinata and Kurenai, completely out cold.

'His fighting style is brutal…' Kurenai thought once Kiba had been 'dispatched', 'he started off by removing our visual and trying to split us, and he goes directly for the knock-out whenever a chance arises… The fact that his punches are capable of sending moderatedly strong mid-range air attacks, with pure, raw strength, means that getting struck directly by his fists is completely out of question. Dammit, he is much stronger and dangerous than I imagined, though it isn't possible that he caused all that damage, I won't just let him simply walk away, time to bring this to an end!' she went through some hand-signs, 'Demonic Illusion: Tree Binding Death!'

The second she casted the technique, a thin blue string appeared between her and Naruto, connecting the two, then the string started getting 'pulled' into the blond, increasing in size in an instant, changing from a simple, near invisible string to a wide, full body 'funnel' of chakra flowing from Kurenai to Naruto.

All in the span of two seconds, so fast that Hinata didn't even have time to activate her byakugan to better see the phenomenon.

 _Ploft._

Kurenai dropped to the ground like a puppet that had its strings cut off. Hinata tried preventing her fall, but wasn't fast enough.

''Urgh,'' Naruto shook his head, ''that felt weird.''

Hinata bent down and wrapped Kurenai's over her shoulders to lift her up, but it turned out to be very difficult to steady her, due to her body now resembling a rag-doll.

''What the heck happened…'' Naruto said to himself, as he looked around the training ground, then settled his gaze on Hinata and Kurenai.

'Byakugan!' The veins on Hinata's face bulged as she activated her Byakugan once more, 'sensei's chakra network…' she thought as she looked at Kurenai, her chakra network almost invisible, having a dangerously low amount of chakra flowing through them, even the chakra inside the gates were bled dry, appearing only as a small spark. To make the situation even stranger, Naruto remained undetectable, completely transparent and invisible to her eyes, despite the surge that had flowed into him, 'what happened?'

''Hmm…'' Naruto glanced around once more as several people body-flickered into the training ground, Hiruzen, Itachi and a dozen ANBU.

''It seems I'm too late…'' Hiruzen said as he saw Kurenai. The ANBU with him going towards the woman and the other fallen members of her team.

''Too late? You knew? What the heck is going on, jiji?'' Naruto asked the old man,

''I thought you had talked with him about it, Itachi.'' Hiruzen glanced at the black haired man, ''anyway, let's go somewhere more private. The ANBU will take them to the hospital to be taken care of.''

The last part, the Hokage said to Hinata, whom shied away from his stare.

Naruto narrowed his eyes for a few seconds and then huffed, ''fine, let's go then.''

Thus they all left, Naruto somewhat angry and confused went back to the Hokage tower with Hiruzen and Itachi, Hinata went to the Hospital to see Kurenai and her other teammates.

- **Later in the Hokage tower-**

''So Jiji, you mind telling me what's going on and what happened back there, how and why did that woman's chakra come inside me?'' Naruto asked angrily after they entered Hiruzen's office.

''Take a seat, Naruto.'' Hiruzen said, sitting on his own chair behind his desk.

''I don't want to, I can't stand still.'' He retorted and the Hokage sighed.

''Very well… But it is a long story…'' Hiruzen pulled out his pipe, placed some tobacco inside and ignited it, 'I had left Itachi to him this, but it seems like it will be me anyway…'

- **Several months ago** -

''Except you Itachi… There is something you should know about Naruto…'' Hiruzen said after dismissing all the other jonins.

''Yes, Hokage-sama?'' Itachi stepped forward and Hiruzen motioned for him to take a seat.

''Given what you specialize in, and what one of your student want to as well, it is important that you pay close attention to what I'm about to reveal to you.'' Hiruzen became serious and looked at him straight into the sharingan.

''Hmm…'' Itachi raised an eyebrow.

''Under no circumstances are you to use genjutsu or any type of medical ninjutsu on him. You must also not allow your other student cast a genjutsu that involves him.'' Hiruzen said seriously, interlacing his fingers.

''Is there a reason?'' Itachi asked and he nodded.

''As you know, his body is… Unique. There is a lot that we don't know about it, and we cannot research it due to several reasons.'' The Hokage paused for a few seconds, ''presume that he has some type of core that absorbs chakra from the exterior when in contact, no matter how thin. Its pressure yanks and absorbs with an incredible speed and force.''

''Like a Black Hole.'' Itachi finished, mostly to himself.

''His own skin is the barrier that restrains it, preventing himself from absorbing through touch. However it isn't impermeable, if you force chakra into him, it will pull it in along with everything last bit that is attached to it. As you know, genjutsu works by pushing chakra into the opponent and manipulate their senses, but by this you make a two-way street that links yourself with the enemy, which in this case might cost your life.'' Hiruzen then closed his eyes, leaving a long silence in between them.

 **-Back to the present-**

''You could have told me this before, Yakumo had asked what would happen if a genjutsu was used on me, I wouldn't forgive myself if it happened to her… And will Kiba's sensei be alright? I didn't mean to hurt the lady.'' Naruto said after Hiruzen explained to him the parts that he needed to know, his ability and how Kurenai casting a genjutsu on him triggered it.

''I'm afraid I don't know if she will, all we can do is hope that the ANBU and medics of the hospital manage to stabilize her…'' Hiruzen stopped upon seeing how saddened Naruto had gotten, ''it isn't your fault. The incident is on me. If I had known it was you that had done all that damage to the training grounds, then I would have never given them it. When Itachi came to give me the report on your training and told me, it was already too late.''

''I've already talked with Yakumo about the dangers of using genjutsu on you, right before our first D-rank mission.'' Itachi said from the side-lines.

''Oh, at least there's that…'' Naruto said to himself, then fully comprehended what Hiruzen had last said, ''wait, you mean that it really was me? Hehe, sorry…''

''That is the next subject that I would like to talk with you about. I need you to slow down with it. Your body is an anomaly, we don't know what can happen if you push it too far. So for this, I'm restricting it to once a week, until we understand what kind of effect it has on you.'' Hiruzen said and Naruto frowned.

''Alright I guess… Now probably isn't the best time to talk about this, since we are already here…' He looked around, ''I had talked with Yakumo and we were wondering if we can get harder missions, would have talked with Sai, but I don't have a clue on where he lives… The ones we been getting don't seem like they will help us get any stronger, heck I do some of those things for free when I got time.''

Hiruzen thought for a few seconds, since the last year he had been getting letters and gifts from various elderly villagers whom Naruto had helped, it reminded him of a certain Uchiha of long ago. He gave him the most valuable of the gifts and left the rest on a storage house because Naruto's apartment wouldn't be large enough to hold all of it.

''I will think about it, tomorrow your team will be given one more D-rank, I might start giving you C-ranks depending on how you all do.'' Hiruzen said and Naruto cheered, even Itachi seemed a little relieved that the D-rank nightmare might be coming to an end. While he didn't do anything on them, he sure as hell didn't like wasting his time doing _nothing._

''Yatta! Thanks Jiji!'' Naruto pumped his fist upwards, ''just you wait, whatever the mission is, we will ace it!'' He grinned and then noticed the clock on the room, which shows 9:25 PM, ''oh shit I gotta go home, cya Jiji!''

Hiruzen didn't care much about the blatant disrespect of the boy and simply dismissed him.

Getting the 'go' sign, Naruto then jumped off the window of the room and dashed towards his apartment, taking only a handful of minutes to get there by jumping from roof to roof.

Quietly getting in, he found Nana in her drawing stand, neatly making several letters and symbols that he didn't recognize on the sheet, one next to the other, now being at the bottom half of the sheet.

''So, what you doing, Nana?'' Naruto asked while pulling over a chair to sit beside her and take a better look at the symbols, 'these aren't normal letters… I think I've seen these somewhere, but I can't quite remember… She only writes what she has seen or knows…'

Taking a look around the room, he noticed a large, old red book on the table and decided to check it out. On its cover it is written, 'Novice, intermediate and advanced Fuinjutsu – By Uzumaki Kaede'

'Uzumaki? Could we be related? Koharu must have brought this book, maybe I should ask her about it, or Jiji.' Naruto thought and then opened the book.

The pages seemed to be a bit worn out, the letters a bit faded, and the language a bit archaic but he still managed to understand it somewhat, if he tried to that is. He just read the first few paragraphs and then started skipping the pages to see if he finds the page his sister is copying. None of that would be of any use to himself anyway, he would need chakra to activate any seal.

As he skipped through the pages until there were no more, he realized that what she is writing either isn't on the book, or she isn't making through memory.

Placing the book back on the table, he went back to the chair and sat beside her. She didn't seem to acknowledge his presence any more so than usual. It is moments like these that Naruto finds himself wishing that he could interact with her better, but since it isn't possible for him, he settled with just watching.

As if 'sensing' his emotions, once Naruna finished she flipped the page to show her previous work, a drawing of a scenarios that he is almost certain that it doesn't exist in the village, which to him meant that they came from a book that she read and imagined, something that actually happens quite commonly.

It is a drawing of a snow-covered castle, compared to her usual drawings it lacks a lot of details, which further reinforces his thoughts about her never seeing it.

Just as she was about to flip the page to show him another one, a loud growling made her stop, her own stomach.

''Oh, you're hungry? I guess it's getting a bit late, how about we take a bath now and right after I make us dinner?'' He asked and she blinked twice, then gave a half-nod after a few seconds. ''Alright, let me go get you another pajama…''

* * *

 **There we have it guys, this chapter was a bit complicated for me to write, but I'm satisfied.**

 **As usual, any grammar mistakes, please PM me and I will correct them ASAP. I don't know what to name this chapter, still waiting for it to hit me, if any ideas on it, leave it as a review :D**

 **I felt like there could have been a better way of revealing Naruto's core ability, or a better timing, but I really couldn't think of one. I wanted to hold it for a bit longer, but it really wouldn't make sense for Hiruzen and Itachi to hold it from him any longer than that, considering that Yakumo is a genjutsu.**

 **Talk about bad match-up, Team Kurenai is probably the worst possible team to fight Naruto. Gentle fist is useless against somebody with no chakra network, Kikaichu(in here) can't perceive something without chakra as a target, genjutsu doesn't work, Kiba was all alone on that one.**

 **No Naruto didn't use the technique that he has been training, will show it later.**


	5. We get a mission!

"So you want us to catch a cat?' Naruto asked Hiruzen with a somewhat baffled expression.

"Naruto, watch how you speak to the Hokage." Iruka reprimanded him and Hiruzen raised his hand.

"Yes, her name is Tora. Or maybe this is too hard for you, do you think you're not up to the task?'' Hiruzen asked with a smirk and Naruto's eyebrow twitched. _This is too easy..._

''Of course we are, you will see! We will get it in no time!'' Naruto turned around and started to walk out of the room, only to stop at the door mid-step, ''Umm… what does this cat look like?''

Hiruzen took a picture from drawer and placed it on top of the desk, ''your next mission will depend on how you deal with this one.''

Yakumo took the picture and studied it with Sai for a few seconds.

''Fine, you will see. Let's go fetch this cat and get this over with.'' Naruto then left the room and Hiruzen sighed, then shared a glance with Itachi.

''We're sorry Hokage-sama, he's just…'' Yakumo started and Hiruzen shook his head.

''You're still here? Go on with your teammate.'' Hiruzen waved her off and ushered them to leave the room. They would need to hurry to catch the cat, especially because it already had a good head start.

After they had left the room, Hiruzen took a little orange book from the inside of his drawer.

''Naruto, you cannot walk out on the Hokage like that.'' Yakumo said to him as she reached him. ''He's the village leader, you need to treat him with respect.''

''Hmm?'' Naruto turned to her, "did you say something?''

Several tick marks appeared on her face. She felt like hitting him, but instead just crossed her arms and huffed, ''fine, be that way.''

''Huh? What did I do now?'' He asked, only for her to ignore him completely. He scratched the back of his head and sighed, ''well, can I see what the cat looks like?''

She ignored him for just a few more seconds, before huffing and handing him the picture.

''Sensei, what's the catch on this mission?'' Sai asked Itachi while Naruto analyzed the cat.

''Tora is the beloved cat of the Fire Daimyo's wife, she is known for constantly escaping. Rumors say that she is adapting to the capturing methods and is becoming more difficult to catch.'' Itachi informed Sai and Yakumo, Naruto didn't seem to be paying much attention.

''I think I know this cat…'' Naruto said to himself, rubbing his chin with his free hand, ''yeah, I'm sure I've seen it around. I think I know where he might be.''

''You do?'' Itachi asked with his eyebrow slightly raised.

''Yeah, it's right around the corner, this way!'' He started walking down the street in a moderate civilian's pace.

''And there he goes…'' Sai said to himself, then shared a glance with Yakumo and Itachi.

They walked and followed Naruto for around five minutes to nearby a dark alley. In there, there were several cats that scattered when they arrived. Some stayed behind, being either too lazy to leave or curious about the newcomers.

The team did, however, manage to get a look at the ones that ran, enough to see that none is the one that they were looking for.

''There are a lot of cats here, but not the one we are looking for.'' Sai stated and Naruto's eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

''I noticed…'' He started tapping his foot impatiently, then snapped his finger as if remembering something, ''ooh! No, it can't be… Can I see that picture again?''

Yakumo handed him the picture and he stared at it for a little longer, then suddenly his eyebrow shot up, ''what?''

'"Oh boy..." He said to himself and gave the picture back.

"Is something wrong?" She asked noticing his distress.

"There is this cat that stops by at my apartment every couple of days. I don't remember seeing it with a ribbon, like in the picture..." he shook his head as if re-assuring himself, "but I'm almost sure it is this one, there is one problem though..."

"What's the problem?" Sai asked as a cat started playing with his toes

"You'll see," Naruto bent down with his back to Yakumo, as if inviting her to 'climb' on. "We should get going now."

"Fine, but you better be right, we wasted a lot of time already." Yakumo told him and then climbed up his back.

Itachi just remained silent, seeing that they didn't need his view on the matter. If Naruto is right, then that would be good for the team. If he is wrong then they will just waste some more of their time but might end up learning something from it. Sometimes the best thing a teacher can do is to let his students make their own decisions.

With Yakumo now steady on his back, Naruto leapt out of the alley to a rooftop. Sai had to pry the cat off his feet before following the blond along with Itachi.

Stopping on the outside of his apartment's door, Yakumo got back on her feet and Naruto turned to the group.

''Before we go in, there are some things that you guys have to know,'' he started and they listened closely, ''my sister gets startled very easily, so don't scream or raise your voice. Also don't curse near her because I don't want her to learn those type of things, and lastly, don't touch her. She freaks out when strangers touch her, it sort of interrupts her thinking, and she has been very sensible these days, got it?''

''You have a sister?'' Sai asked and he facepalmed. Out of everything that he had said, it was all that the boy adsorbed.

''Yes, so you guys understand, right? No screaming, no cursing and no touching.'' He repeated and both Sai and Yakumo nodded, ''alright, let's go in.''

Opening the door, the first thing that they saw was the small red-headed girl on the chair. Curled up on her lap was a brown cat with a line running down its forehead and two lines crossing it horizontally. Entering the room, they started to notice other details, like the light blue kitten pajama that the girl wearing, the red ribbon on the floor, the paintings on the wall.

The cat seemed to have fallen asleep to Nana's slow and gentle petting. Seeing it, the members of Team 9 held no more doubts about the cat's identity. Naruto stepped forward, scratching the back of his head.

''And there is the problem…'' he said, and then gestured to her. ''It's hard to make her let go of something.''

''Can't we just ask her to give it to us? We need the cat for the mission,'' Yakumo told him and he sighed.

''If only it were that simple…'' Naruto replied in a soft tone, and then walked over to Nana.

The red-haired girl showed no signs of noticing him,she just continued to smoothly pet Tora, which had opened a single eye to observe the newcomers.

''Umm… Hey Nana…'' he started and gave her a smile,''this cat… Err…''

He glanced around, trying to find the correct words. ''She has an owner, that wants it back really badly and 'asked' me to take it to her, can I take her?''

''Meow.'' Tora glared at Naruto briefly, understanding what is going on, only stopping once Nana's petting regained its effect on her.

The two siblings stared at each other. Naruto searched for a sign that she'd let him take the cat, but her eyes remained empty as she kept stroking Tora.

''Just go!'' Yakumo whispered to him.

Her attitude irritated him, but he kept his cool and took a deep breath. Calm once more, he slowly reached out for Tora.

Grasping Tora with both hands, he attempted to pick her up, only to stop upon feeling Nana's pajamas being pulled along with it. He looked underneath Tora and then saw that the cat had its claws firmly into it. Nana also held onto the cat, further preventing him from pulling it away.

''Mrow~'' Tora complained as the two got into a standstill, until Naruto decided to let go of the cat.

Taking a step backwards, he rubbed his chin in thought and considered his options. He could yank the cat from her lap and just stuff it in a box, but that would tear her pajamas and possibly scratch her…

''My…'' Her mouth opened as she softly stroked Tora. ''Kitty…''

Her voice came out low, soft and sweet, but still loud enough for everybody to understand crystal clear. Those were the very first words that she had said in the year. Naruto could count the amount of times that she had spoken on a hand, such is the rarity of the event that he took a step back in surprise.

 _Oh crap…_ Naruto thought and got back up. _She's really attached to it, this may end up being harder than I thought._

With Naruto backing off, Tora closed her eyes once more and started to purr.

''This is bad…'' he said, joining the others.

''Why is that?'' Sai asked and Naruto rubbed his chin.

''The last time she got this attached to something was with her last teddy, and she cried for an entire day when it got torn apart. Don't think we can just take Tora from her,'' he answered, and Yakumo took a bag of potato chips from the kitchen.

''Well you're the one that wants to do C-Ranks, what do you want to do?'' Yakumo asked, taking a seat and starting to eat the chips.

''I don't know yet, let me think…'' Naruto said and started to pace around the room, ''it's not like she will listen to us if we ask…'' He said to himself in thought.

''Maybe she isn't understanding?'' Sai asked and Naruto stopped to listen. ''Maybe can explain it to her differently?''

''Explain it differently…'' Naruto repeated and then snapped his fingers. ''Of course! She understands things better when they are written or illustrated, maybe we could work something out to try and explain it to her?''

''We?'' Yakumo asked with an amused smile, and Naruto rolled his eyes.

''Fine, you and Sai.'' He said and she giggled, ''gimmie a break will you?''

''Since you're asking soo~ nicely…'' She got up from the chair and walked over to Nana's drawing stand, looking over at her drawings on the walls as she passed them by. ''What should we do?''

''Umm, we're short on time, so something simple just to show that Tora has an owner and that we need it?'' He suggested and both Yakumo and Sai nodded. ''By the way, Sai. How do you know these type of things?''

''Experience,'' the black-haired boy answered simply, ''will she mind if we use her paper?'' Sai asked about her drawing stand, mentally noting that they don't have a big variety of tools.

''Don't think so, go ahead.'' Naruto told them and the two artists of Team 9 took out their tools.

''How about we do four panels, you start layout and I fill in once you get onto the next page?'' Yakumo asked Sai, preparing her ink.

Sai stared at the paper for a few seconds before tilting his head towards Yakumo, ''what should I start with?''

Yakumo in turn shifted to Naruto, ''she understands better when things are displayed as a story, right? Let me see… We could start the first panel by drawing Madam Shimiji holding Tora, on the second one we do one of Tora running away or getting lost, third one of her asking us to get Tora back and fourth, one of us here? I've seen Madame Shimiji before, so you can just leave a blank spot on where she is, if you don't know how she is or I can start the first.''

''Alright,'' Sai took his brush and dipped it into his ink bottle, ''it's alright, I know how she is.''

Naruto chose to just watch along with Nana as she stroked the weary Tora.

The two tried their best to get it done as quickly as possible, a few mistakes were made on either of their parts but in the end they managed to get the job done in no less than ten minutes.

''Umm… Tadah?'' Sai and Yakumo 'presented' the paintings to Naruna, whom just simply continued to pet the cat. Because they had painted it all in front of her, she had followed the entire progression of the paintings with full attention, even if it seemed as if she had no interest, ''what now?''

''I don't know, let's wait a bit,'' Naruto sat on one of the chairs and watched.

Itachi was the first to notice, a twitch of Nana's toes, and a change on the rhythm in which she stroked Tora, and then finally, she grabber Tora with her right hand by the back of her spine and stood up, her left hand supporting the cat's weight from below

''Meow!'' Tora protested and used all her strength to escape, but all that she could do was slightly twitch her limbs.

''...'' Naruna remained silent, and slowly made her way to Naruto, her eyes maintained the usual 'nothingness' or 'uncaringness'.

''Mew…'' The immobile Tora looked at Nana with pleading eyes.

''...'' She stopped in front of her brother and carefully extended the cat to him, keeping a firm grip on its spine to not let it escape.

Sai took out a cage and opened it, Naruto stared at his sister and Tora, amazed at how Sai's idea is working, for getting her to listen has always been very troublesome.

''Meooww!'' Tora wiggled more forcefully, making Naruto snap out of his thoughts, take it and immediately put it inside the cage, ''Hsss~!''

''Whew, glad that's over with.'' Naruto said to his teammates, Yakumo wiped some sweat from her brow. Tora started to hiss, bite and rattle against the cage.

Nana didn't pay no mind to the cat and instead turned around.

''Where is she going?'' Yakumo asked Naruto, to which he shrugged in response.

''To our room I suppose, who knows what's going on in her head.'' He replied and turned to leave, ''we shouldn't keep the old man waiting.''

''And this 'old man' is the Hokage, you shouldn't call him that.'' Sai told him, going to get his painting supplies.

''Well it is true…'' Yakumo added offhandedly, also getting her things.

''Doesn't mean that you should say it, it isn't right. Tell them sensei.'' Sai gestured to Itachi, who was staring in the direction that Nana had left to. ''Great, thanks for the support, sensei.''

Yakumo and Naruto snickered quietly, Sai is the most 'patriotic' among them. Yakumo's feeling towards the Hokage and Kurenai borders hate, while Naruto just doesn't simply care about formalities on ranks.

 _She really has talent…_ Sai thought as he placed away his ink and looked at her drawings. He looked at her stand and the materials she used and noted how simple they were _. Poor Naruto, he hardly understands a thing about what equipment she needs. But at least he tries._

Upon finishing packing up, he opened his bag and placed his things back on the painting stand.

 _''What are you doing?''_ Yakumo whispered to him, after noticing what he did.

 _''She needs it more than I do.''_ Sai replied and smiled, an actually true smile, that looked great on him.

Yakumo stopped packing, and looked around. She saw what Sai had just seen, and what she should have noticed before. Deciding to follow Sai's example, she too unpacked once more.

It was then that the Naruna returned, with a large frame on her hands. In its surface is a drawing of Tora, seated on the window with the sun behind. Nana walked to her brother and extended the 'picture' to him.

''That's Tora…'' he said to himself, remembering when she had made it a few days back, ''you want me to take it to it's owner?''

Nana pushed the drawing onto him and he took it, then she turned around and returned to her seat on the couch.

Naruto blinked owlishly and sighed, ''you guys ready yet?''

''Yea, lets go.'' Yakumo answered, and Sai nodded.

''You sure? You forgetting all your stuff,'' he pointed to their brushes and paint by Nana's stand, ''geez guys, hurry up!''

Yakumo's eyebrow twitched, ''these are for her, we want to see what she can make with them. I have a lot at home anyway… and Sai can just buy himself some more.''

Sai visibly 'deflated' at the thought of how expensive his ink is, and Naruto gave a half-smile.

''Ah… Thanks a lot guys!'' his half-smile turned into a big grin, "now let's go, Jiji better have a good C-Rank for us."

He seemed excited and content but it wasn't the usual grin that they had gotten used to. Something seemed off about it, but they all came to the collective thought that they shouldn't probe any further.

A few minutes later-

"Here's your cat." Naruto placed Tora's cage on top of his desk. "Hey Iruka-sensei."

Hiruzen looked at the angry cat, at the drawing frame on Naruto's left hand and then at Team 9. They didn't have the best time that he had seen, but they were the first team to arrive this calmly with 'spiritual peace' after meeting Tora. He had observed them through his crystal ball and it answered several of the questions that he regarding the cat and why it would suddenly disappear for hours.

Behind them, the door opened and a 'plump', fancy lady walked inside.

''Oh my Tora!'' She said upon seeing the cat on it's cage, and then ran towards it to free it and squeeze it to death, ''I missed you so~ much!''

''Meoow!'' Tora protested and tried to escape from her grasp, only to be hugged with even more strength.

 _So that's why it runs away, poor cat._ Naruto thought, feeling sympathy towards the creature,

''Right on time, Madam Shijimi. They've only just arrived.'' Hiruzen said, gesturing towards Team-9.

Madam Shijimi gave a quick glace at Team-9. Her s in a hurry - show, don't tell

''it was no trouble,'' Naruto scratched the back of his head with his usual grin, then blinked a few times,''oh right, I'm supposed to give you this.''

He extended her the frame with Tora's drawing.

"This, for me?" She looked at the drawing, giving Tora some breathing space. "It is lovely.

She got a good look at it, and took in every detail, then looked around the room and noticed another similar drawing hanging on the wall, "there is no signature, I've seen a few of these around, soo much detail, who makes them?"

"My sister made it, she likes Tora." He replied casually and turned to the Hokage, "she wanted me to give you it."

"well then there is a perfect spot for it on my room, right Tora-chin?" She Nuzzled/suffocated the cat, until she saw the clock on the wall, "oh my! Look at the time, I'm going to be late for the tea party, good bye child, Hiruzen."

After she left the room, a loud 'meow' was heard, followed by the sound of something crashing against the floor.

"Well that's that… you want a C-Rank, is that right?" Hiruzen leaned back into his chair, "very well, you can have one.

"Yes!" Naruto cheered, pumping his right-fist upwards. "what type of mission is it, protect a princess? Beat up a group of bandi-"

Itachi glanced at Naruto, and he immediately shutted up.

"Umm, Hokage-sama. Are you they are ready for a C-Rank mission?" Iruka spoke, bringing their attention to him.

"Are you questioning my decision?" Hiruzen asked, making Iruka look down, "I believe they are ready."

 _Hah!_ Naruto thought, with a mischievous grin.

"One of our ninjas was requested to return here for a task, but… hasn't responded our messenger hawks. Your mission is to give this to her and bring her back." He placed a sealed envelope on top of the table.

"That sounds boring…"

"There are plenty of houses to be painted still…"

"We'll do it!" Sai surprisingly interjected, apparently wanting to move up as much as his other two teammates.

Naruto huffed and took the envelope, "yea, fine. How's this lady like and where was she last seen?"

 _He's making the objective questions?_ Everybody on the room blinked and looked at him strangely.

"Oy! C'mon, don't look at me like that! I can see the things that we need to know for this…" he looked around the room for some support, but they continued to look at him strangely, "even you, Yakumo?"

Hiruzen cleared his throat, and pulled several pictures from his drawer, "her name is Tsunade. She is accompanied by her assistant Shizune and her pet Tonton. They were all last seen on a inn, near Tanzaku Gai."

He placed the pictures on top of his desk and the members of Team-9 went further to take a look. Upon seeing Tsunade, Naruto rubbed his chin in thought.

''I think that I've read about her before, in a book…'' Naruto said to himself, then snapped his fingers, ''right it was a book on regeneration! Or was it healing? Can't remember which, but you sure this is Tsunade? The book said she looks like a old hag.''

Hiruzen's eyebrow twitched, and Yakumo pinched Naruto's elbow, making him yelp

 _''Idiot, that's Tsunade of the Sannin!''_ Yakumo whispered into his ear, _''she's the Hokage's student!''_

''Ooh…'' Naruto nodded to her, ''So she is a old-hag! But why she look soo young?''

Yakumo facepalmed, and then upon noticing how close she is to him, she took a step backwards.

 _He's doomed if he says that in front of her…_ Hiruzen knew which book it was that Naruto had read, and was actually surprised that he had it. Tsunade hadn't been pleased with it and very politely asked for them to be rewritten and republished.

"Right, no time to lose," Naruto made his way to the door, "we have an old hag to fetch."

 _Yup, he's screwed… should I tell him? Nah, she will teach him some respect._ Hiruzen sighed heavily, "you are all dismissed, except you Naruto, you stay."

''Huh? Me? Why?'' He looked at his teammates, Yakumo shrugged, Sai gave him a 'I told you so' look and Itachi… Itachi just left the room.

''You're on your own now, buddy.'' Sai told him as he passed by and left.

''Good luck, Naruto.'' Yakumo left right after Sai, leaving Naruto alone with the Hokage and Iruka.

''You too Iruka. I need to speak with him alone.'' He gestured for Naruto to sit down. Iruka obeyed and quickly left the two to themselves.

Naruto looked at the chair, at the Hokage and saw the seriousness in his eyes. Sighing he took a seat, ''what did I do now?''

''A lot of things, but only one is the case now.'' He took a file from underneath some papers on his table and opened it to show a picture of Kurenai Yuhi. ''At first, I wasn't going to give you this mission, but after some thinking I came to the conclusion that you may be the best person for this''

''What does this mission have to do with her?'' He took the file, in it is written a bunch of medical terms that he couldn't quite comprehend.

''Everything, our medics don't have the knowledge and skill to completely stabilize Kurenai. They've been keeping her alive, but they can't completely revert her condition. Time is running out and Tsunade is the best medic-nin there is.''

A pang of guilt struck his heart. He knew that it wasn't his fault, he repeated those words for an entire night, but it still wasn't enough. ''How much time left?''

''Our medics estimate that they can keep her alive for another week, before her organs start failing completely.'' Hiruzen closed his eyes, he didn't feel good for telling those things to Naruto, quite the opposite actually. He had been avoiding for years, but he knew that sooner or later the boy would have to learn what his ability truely does to its victims.

Naruto hung his head down and stayed in silence for a few seconds. He blinked a couple of times, raised his head and looked at Hiruzen straight in the eye with a newfound conviction, ''That won't happen. We will find her and drag her back kicking and screaming if we have to.''

''Very well, then you are dismissed. Time is of essence. '' Hiruzen 'shooed' him out with his right hand. _For as much as it'd be amusing to see… I doubt that will happen within the decade._

And so Naruto left the room to meet up with his team outside the Mansion. Both Sai and Yakumo were expecting him to come out downtrodden or sad, but were surprised with the determined look in his eyes.

''So guys, what's the plan?'' He asked as he joined the group.

''Well, me and Sai need to re-supply on ink. You might as well get ready also.'' Yakumo started looking at him expectantly.

''We don't want to leave before dawn. we leave in two hours.'' Itachi told them and body-flickered away.

''Pfft, show off...'' Naruto kicked some dirt and then rubbed his chin, ''I need to pass by Ayame also, she agreed to look after Nana if I left on any long missions…''

''Well, see you in two, in two hours.'' Sai waved them off and left via roof-tops. Leaving Yakumo to stare at Naruto.

''...'' She looked at him with a blank face, and averted his eyes awkwardly.

''Wha- ohh… you can just ask, you know?'' He chuckled and turned his back to her. ''You mind if we stop by Ichiraku?''

''Really, you want rame-?'' Yakumo raised an eyebrow.

''Stop right there, don't say it!Ramen is always welcome, _always_.'' He interrupted, turning to her once more. '' But while I do want it, I know we don't have time for that now. I just need to ask Ayame to check up on Nana while we're gone.''

She blinked, having forgotten about his sister momentarily.

''Fine, yea, lets go.'' She walked behind him and climbed his back. _Is it bad that I'm getting used to this?_

The corners of her mouth twitched upwards.

 ** _Wham!_**

''Itaaaii~!'' Yakumo smacked Naruto behind the head, ''what was that for?''

''That's for interrupting me, now lets go.''

* * *

 **Omake - Nana's betrayal - Tora translation**

Nana grabbed Tora with her right hand by the back of her spine and stood up, her left hand supporting the cat's weight from below.

 _''Nooo! Don't do this!''_ Tora protested and used all her strength to escape, but all that she could do was slightly twitch her limbs.

''...'' Naruna remained silent, and slowly made her way to Naruto, her eyes maintained the usual 'nothingness' or 'uncaringness'.

 _''Stop, please…''_ The immobile Tora looked at Nana with pleading eyes.

''...'' She stopped in front of her brother and carefully extended the cat to him, keeping a firm grip on its spine to not let it escape.

Sai took out a cage and opened it, Naruto stared at his sister and Tora, amazed at how Sai's idea is working, for getting her to listen has always been very troublesome.

 _''Noo! Don't do this to me!''_ ' Tora wiggled more forcefully, making Naruto snap out of his thoughts, take it and immediately put it inside the cage, _''Noooooo!''_

''Whew, glad that's over with.'' Naruto said to his teammates, Yakumo wiped some sweat from her brow.

 _''I HATE YOU!''_ Tora started to hiss, bite and rattle against the cage. _''You were the chosen one! You were supposed to be different from them! You were supposed to protect me, not sell me out! You were my family! I loved you…''_

 **-Omake end-**

* * *

 **Sorry for the wait guys, I've been editing and re-writing the previous chapters, and been very busy.**


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